In the previous topics I have offered you some culinary strategies to increase the intake of fruits and vegetables in children. But, in addition to the different ways of presenting them, there are also some practical tips that can help get children to eat more vegetables.
The best way to get children to eat more fruits or vegetables is to make them accessible for them since they are little. It may seem absurd, but keeping vegetables out of reach and sight (with the logical precautions with the little ones) is the best way to get them out of their diet.
The accessible fruit bowl
He fruit platter I remember that my grandmother had as a centerpiece almost disappeared from our homes. It was normal then that, when you were hungry, you could take a fruit directly. So the first practical advice would be to keep fruits within reach of children and accessible so that they can find them by hand when they are hungry and their color and smell whet their appetite.
When we begin to leave the fruits in sight the children begin to order them, not only our children but also the friends who come to play or the trusted adult visits, creating a favorable climate for their intake. We will eat them more regularly when we feel like it. And the children, following the example of others, will also ask for them.
It is much better for the child to eat an apple or a banana to come and ask for a chocolate or candy, and, of course, much better than a packaged juice or a bag of chips.
They may sometimes leave the fruit bitten or half eaten, even forget it in the toy drawer or on the TV. Do not be upset, let's think it is an investment in your health and food education.
Fresh vegetables ready to eat in the fridge
Vegetables, outside the fridge, we don't usually have them and, in addition, they usually require some prior preparation.
However have some vegetables already washed and peeled in the fridge so that anyone, when they feel like chopping something, can open it and have a carrot, tomato, cucumber sticks or lettuce leaves is another way to keep them as a delicious snack available at any time.
Those that are not used should be used in the salad at night, so that they do not lose properties. It is always better to wash and peel them in the moment, but it will always be better a vegetable that we leave ready It has been a couple of hours since industrial baubles and also makes the vegetable something common to "kill the bug."
This bowl with vegetables is also an ideal solution for those moments when, preparing lunch or dinner, we throw time over and the child is very hungry. You can have a Healthy "cover" With which to make time until we finish.
I assure you that it solves many tantrums of those who jump when the child needs to eat imperiously, because we do not forget that children when they are hungry is not on a whim, but because their body demands that energy and it is not good to leave them raging even if that is not our intention .
School snacks
When we put them fruit on the snack they take to school You have to think things through. Children need to play and at recess they usually have no more than half an hour. One of the practical tips to keep in mind is that the fruit they carry should be simple to eat and in adequate quantity.
An orange or tangerines are not usually a good idea. The first because of how complicated it is to peel it with their little hands that are also going to be sticky. The second, to see where they leave while they are eating.
Bananas and pears, for example, if they are very ripe, they will reach reheated reheated, brown and crushed, so the safest thing is that, if we have not chosen the fruit well, they end up in the bin or eating them with a little disgust
In some centers they allow children to carry the fruit already stripped and peeled in a pan and let them eat it in class before going out to the patio. If this is the case, go ahead, but if it is not, better assess if it is the best time for them to eat fruit.
As each child is different some will be delighted with your fruit, but, if the child, as was my son, is slow eating, you can spend half an hour in the yard with the apple in your hand spinning and unable to play.
In some cases it is preferable to wait for the child with a fruit at the end of class or give it a snack when you get home to put it on the patio, instead of receiving them with yogurt that they say increases defenses or an industrial juice.
Understand your son
Perhaps the most complete advice I can give you is this: watch your children, talk to them, understand them. They are going to help us better understand what their problems are when eating fruit or vegetables. And understanding them we can adapt to them, making their relationship with food and health develop in a climate of trust in us and self-confidence.
There is no recipe that will work for all children, in fact, possibly for each child we will have to opt for some strategies or others. These Practical advice can help children eat fruit and vegetablesWell, it is necessary, but to achieve this the path is not to despair, get angry or use blackmail or prizes.
