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Be a great role model for your kids and be sure to eat a wide variety of vegetables and fruit every day. Also keep in mind that kids are more likely to eat a previously disliked vegetable when they see one of their friends eating it.
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Kids don't eat something because it's good for them. They eat it because it tastes good. Prepare vegetables and fruit with flavours kids enjoy. Most kids like mild and sweet flavours. A great way to enhance the taste of vegetables, for example, is with a touch of sugar. Glazed carrots are a great option and a drizzle of maple syrup makes squash especially tasty.
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Your presence at the table means a lot to children. Even if you're not eating, if you sit with them, they're more likely to eat. Have your children eat at the table, not in front of the TV or while they run around. It's important for kids to focus on their meal and to think of mealtime as the time to eat.
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Do your kids prefer raw carrots to cooked carrots? Most do. Many kids will even eat a frozen pea before a cooked one. That's okay. While it's a good idea to get kids used to eating vegetables served in a variety of ways, serving them raw on a regular basis is a good strategy for success.
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Don't feel bad. It's okay to use the blender or food processor to hide vegetables in foods kids love like spaghetti sauce, chili or shepherd's pie. Shredded carrots mix nicely into a tuna or chicken salad sandwich mixture. And pureed fruit or shredded veggies are a must-add for all muffin mixes and pancake batters.
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Make it a habit to offer your children vegetables and fruit when they're most hungry. Many parents offer kids vegetables only at suppertime - a time when many young children are more tired than hungry. Offer fruit or veggies with dip as a pre-dinner snack or right when kids get home from school.
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Make meals something your kids look forward to. The best way to achieve this is by serving a variety of healthy foods at regular meal and snack times. Once the food is served (now, this is the tough part!), sit back and relax. Your children decide what and how much they eat - no pushing, no prodding, no 'clean your plate' rules from you. The more positive and relaxed the environment, the more food your kids are likely to eat.
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Some kids wouldn't think of chomping into a pear, but will happily eat it peeled and sliced - add a few sprinkles and it becomes a true delight. Serve vegetables and fruit chopped or sliced whenever possible. Always keep a fruit bowl in sight and in reach. Be creative. Make kebobs by putting chunks of vegetables or fruit on a skewer. Add fruit cocktail to jello molds. Serve fruit with frozen yogurt. Most important, don't forget to eliminate the competition. If your cupboards are filled with cookies and potato chips, the vegetables and fruit are more likely to go untouched.
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Get dipping vegetables, fruit, dips and kids - what a happy combination. Most kids will eat almost anything if there's a dip to go with it. Serve baby carrots or red pepper sticks with a ready-made salad dressing. Allow kids to dip cooked vegetables in plum sauce, applesauce or ketchup. Serve fruit like strawberries, apple or banana slices with fruit-flavoured yogurt, cream cheese or chocolate pudding. And don't forget sauces - a little bit of cheese sauce on most vegetables increases their appeal significantly.
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It takes a significant amount of time for most kids to accept a new food. Research shows that many children must be exposed to (and ideally taste) a new food 5 to 10 times before accepting it. Serve new vegetables and fruit on a regular basis. Encourage, but don't force, your kids to try at least a nibble of any new food offered. To increase enthusiasm for new foods, get your kids involved in the shopping, cooking or preparation whenever possible.
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Variety is a good thing
As variety increases, kids tend to eat more food. At dinnertime, for example, most kids do better with a small serving of peas, a small serving of corn, and a small potato as compared to a large serving of just one vegetable. When possible, make it a habit to serve two or three vegetables or fruit with most meals (this also helps if your child doesn't like one particular vegetable - hopefully they'll eat one or more of the other two).
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Do you tell your children they can watch TV or have dessert if they eat their broccoli? This approach works only in the short-term. When you offer kids rewards for eating a certain food, the food eaten to obtain the reward becomes less preferred. Kids start to think of these foods as 'bad' foods or a form of punishment and are more resistant to eat them the next time they are offered.
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