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Children may start their taste buds with vegetables and fruits, but many of them will resist eating them as they grow up.
Only recently the actress and model Chrissy Teigen confessed that not all her children eat vegetables.
But Teigen is not only a model and actress but also a cookbook author, so she was asked by Jimmy Kimmel this week if her four children are "good eaters."
Teigen praised Luna for eating all her healthy greens.
"Luna is the best eater. Luna is amazing, she eats salads, vegetables," Teigen said.
However, when it comes to their five-year-old son Miles, he's a bit more of a picky eater.
"Miles still hasn't eaten vegetables," Teigen revealed.
"He's six years old, almost."
She said that "once he accidentally ate a broccoli floret in fried rice and he was very upset about it."
Teigen admitted it's a "struggle" to get kids to eat fruit and vegetables, revealing she even joined a "Zoom call where they were talking about picky eaters".
Boy eating avocado/ShutterStock
If you are also fighting with your children to eat vegetables and fruits, stop.
Researchers from University College London found that the effective way to win a war is simply to understand that it is not a war, and to turn to different tools than argument.
In a series of studies conducted both in educational institutions and in homes, the researchers found that when children are offered vegetables many times throughout the day, cut into very small pieces and rewarded with smiling stickers, they will eat more vegetables in the long run as well.
During the experiment, children who chose to eat the vegetables received a smiling sticker, while children who did not, were not criticized for their choice, but did not receive a sticker.
The children who ate and received a sticker continued to eat more vegetables about three months after they were offered the reward.
The researchers tried to offer the vegetables not at mealtimes, which they claim are seen as more stressful times for them.
If your children are less enthusiastic about stickers, here is another way that might work your way into their hearts and stomachs and might also provide you with shared enjoyment along the way.
Researchers from De Montfort University say that in order to convince your children to eat vegetables, you need to get rid of the most worn-out and disgusting parental saying - "don't play with the food".
The person who led the study, behavioral psychologist Helen Coulthard, explained that "when children are allowed to touch, tear and crush the vegetables, a more positive and enjoyable image of them will be built in their minds, which will also develop curiosity about their taste."
So yes, as your children probably have a tendency to put all their toys in their mouths, maybe if they start playing with the food, it will bother you less.
Whether you choose to believe the conclusions of these studies or not, it is important that you know that the way to your children's hearts is to simply let go, and strive to see reality from their eyes.
This is both the way to stay close to your children and to prevent them from rebelling or insisting.
When they understand and feel that you are on the same side and not against each other - you will already win everything, without winning them.
More on the same topic:
vegetables
Children's nutrition
diet
parents
Children