Ok, so this is the age-old problem that parents have been wrestling with forever - How to get the kids to eat their veggies. After years of trying to convince myself that fries were once potatoes, I decided to run a few top-secret experiments on my unsuspecting little people. Some were a total failure and others worked a treat.
Experiment 1: All out bribery
For this one, I leaned on years of semi successful parenting and tried to bribe my way through it. If you eat your cauliflower, you can have a treat after dinner…Well, they saw through that one quick smart and before I knew it, I was handing out marshmallows. Ok, so not a great approach.
Experiment 2: Get them at their weakest
This one initially involved actually observing them, David Attenborough style (hat and all), and I noticed that they annoyed me most for food while I was actually making their dinners. So, the budding anthropologist that I am surmised that, that was the moment to get them. At their weakest! And hit them with the veggies. And you know what? It totally worked.
I quietly placed a plate full of cut up veggies like carrots, cherry tomatoes, and capsicum and baby corn on the dining table and quickly saw little hands grabbing at them whilst waiting for the main course. Win!
Experiment 3: Hide them
I knew that this one was a no brainer but my kids are actually smarter than me (sad but true) and I didn't think I'd manage to sneak veggies into their meals. So I did my research and turns out there are a myriad of sneaky ways to get those little veggies in, under the noses of unsuspecting kids.
Here are my top 3:
1. Frozen veggie and fruit juice icy poles
2. Mac n cheese with sweet potato
3. Pizza sauce packed with pureed carrots
There are truckloads more too!
So, really, no more excuses.And now I'm off to have a glass of wine. It was grapes once!