picky eaters

Cooking with your kids is one of the best ways to get them to eat healthy real food, and a great way to boost their excitement is by involving them in meal planning. 

When children can take ownership of breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks, they tend to really think about what they’ll be eating. When you first start giving your children a voice in meal planning they may provide outlandish ideas such as cheeseburgers with cookies for buns or string cheese for every meal, but you can curb this by showing them how you do your own meal planning, and what you take into account (nutrition, budgets, what’s on hand) so they understand how meal plans work. And of course, do your best to make meal planning fun!

Vegetables can be a scary item on your picky eater’s plate, eliciting cries of, “Broccoli, yuck. Beans? No way. Kale? Don’t even think about it.” What’s a parent to do? I’ll let you in on a little secret — kids will eat their vegetables if they play with them first. So, it’s time to show your kids that vegetables are something they can love instead of hate.

Here are some activities you can do together with your kids at the dinner table — remember, the ultimate goal is to have them eat their veggies at the end of play time. It helps if you play along and eat the vegetables alongside your kids, and hey, it’s good for you too!

If you know me, you know that I love to cook and don't mind a challenge. I certainly don't accept the status quo and have issues in following a recipe. It is for these exact reasons that I took on the challenge to prepare food for my kids, with gusto. To this day, I refuse to believe in the idea of "kids" menus, purchasing baby food, or the whole idea of picky eaters.

If you have not heard the name Laura Greene or Grow, Eat, Share, take note. She is an example of yet another bold and ambitious food lover who is trying to fill the gaps in our food education system. The story starts when Laura was working as a volunteer with a local kindergarden and she came face to face with the realities of what kids were eating.

Knowing that the parents are choosing to pack their kids junk food for lunch did not deter her from trying to teach the kids, in spite of their parents. What really "sealed her fate", if you will, was when she brought one of these kindergardeners to Riverbend Farm, only to discover that he did not know what a farm was. I suppose that when your lunch is glowing with artificial color and absent of vegetables, how could anyone even think that food comes from a farm?

As the farmers markets begin to roll and my garden grows among the weeds I am given the wonderful reminder of why we should always enjoy these events with friends, family and children. I can't quite say why exactly, but when we share the process of growing and obtaining our food with people we love, the food itself becomes more enjoyable.