Ten Ways to Get Kids to Eat "Green Things"

As children my brother and I were prone to shouting, "EWWW, green things!"  It was one of those hilarious (or not so hilarious things) our mother and grandmother had to put up with.  We were challenging to say the least and when we were trying to behave it was kind of comical how often adults seemed to have the same opinion.  I will never forget the night my mother took my brother and I to a restaurant with two of her coworkers. I don't remember what I ordered at that Italian restaurant but I do remember that my brother was so picky that he could only order pasta with butter and cheese (yes, I facefaulted even then). When it came out, my mother and I had to hold our breath, the plate was sprinkled with some kind of green herb garnish. Luckily for us, my brother decided to dig in anyway without commentary.  Her coworker, after a brief moment shouted, "Eww, what's that green stuff?"  I thought Mom was going to die, goodness knows I was laughing very, very hard.  Adults are supposed to like vegetables. Kids are the ones who are supposed to be difficult about fresh vegetables.

We were such pains about most vegetables. Goodness knows, I only ate a handful of veggies and my brother ate even fewer than I did. In retrospect, I don't know why I wouldn't eat vegetables because now I love them. I know that sometimes I didn't like the texture of vegetables, other times it was a flavor issue and sometimes it was sheer stubbornness... When Mom or Grams would put their foots down, I would eat the bare minimum to avoid their anger. Now, I think vegetables are delicious and I've been thinking of some ways to make them look appealing to even kids.

Besides force feeding, here are some suggestions on how to get kids (and some adults ::wink::) to eat their "green things."

1. Set a good example! Eat your vegetables, and they'll start to pick up good habits. Not to say this always works, afterall Grams and Mom ate their veggies and I couldn't be bothered.  But it's still a good place to start.
2. If not, try making vegetables playful! Kids love make believe so bring pretend play to the table. Broccoli can be trees. Celery can be logs, especially if served with peanut butter and raisin ants. An octopus out of red pepper served with ranch or french onion dip is fun to play with. Pack a lady bug garden bento box. Or a cucumber racecar! Build a jungle on your plate with string beans, carrots and different kinds of greenery. Or maybe a grilled cheese and veggie train.  An edible rainbow would be colorfully delicious!
3. Get the kids involved! Have them help you prepare the meal, either by picking the vegetables at the store or by cleaning the veggies during prep time.  They'll be more inclined to eat the veggies if they're actively involved in the process. When I was younger, I helped my grandmother with our garden in the backyard. I was far more interested in eating the vegetables that I had helped plant and grow. 
4. Don't force kids (or picky adults) to finish their plates.  I know, seems counterintuitive, but if you force someone to eat something, they will develop negative associations. However, you should enforce the one bite rule.  They need to at least try the new vegetable each time it's on their plate. So one bite, but no fighting.  One of the reasons that I hated string beans for so long was because I associated them with my grandmother and brother trying to force me to eat them and clear my plate. The last straw for me was when my lovely brother shoved a handful into my face, and effectively into my nose. I could not and would not eat string beans again until I was 20 and even then I wasn't thrilled with them. 
5. Basic bribery: Every time they eat their veggies, or a bite of a new type of vegetable, some kind of reward can be offered.  I loved stickers growing up so if someone had said, if you try these beets you get a sticker, I pretty much would have jumped at the opportunity. I really liked my stickers. 
6. Don't tell them how healthy vegetables are.  Kids tend to think they're invincible so health is not high on their list of priorities.  However, kids do want to get bigger and stronger. I ate spinach because I thought it would help me become like Popeye who was, in my mind, super cool and super strong. 
7. Make it colorful. Little kids like bright colors, so serve up some colorful vegetables seperately rather than in a casserole. 
8. Use butter, garlic and bacon!  You can absolutely make veggies more appealing by cooking them with things that have big flavors.  Positive associations after all. :D 
9. Hide them: Add the veggies like spinach, beets, carrots, salad and other neutrally flavored vegetables to smoothies with fresh fruit. They don't add flavor but they add to nutrition. Super healthy and delicious! I had a delicious berry, banana and spinach smoothie the other day and you couldn't tell their was spinach in there by sight or taste. You can also cut and freeze the fruit ahead of time and then you won't have to add ice to the smoothie. 
10. Hide them: Sweet tooth? Shred up your veggies and bake them into a cake or cookies, like my Double Chocolate chip zucchini cookies, Carrot Cake, and Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. Don't mention the veggie and the kids will eat up their dessert, not knowing that they're getting a dose of vitamins. If you're worried about sugar content you can always cut the quantity of sugar in most recipes and skip the chocolate. I seem to have chocolate chips in most of my recipes because I LOVE chocolate.  And the great thing about this is that almost any cake can be made with veggies, it will just add some moisture. 

Mind you, 9 and 10 are really kind of last resorts. They absolutely work to get kids (and adults) the nutrition they need but at the same time they don't solve the basic problem. Smoothies and cakes with hidden vegetables don't make kids like vegetables. They simply add nutrition to a diet. My other suggestions are far more realistic if you want a child or adult to get enjoyment out of their food. The ideas can help people actually start to enjoy eating vegetables and new foods. Enjoyment of healthy foods is the first step to leading a healthy lifestyle.