by Francis Harris

Created on: February 26, 2010

The key to equipping children with healthy eating habits - vegetables included - is to start young. If you are in the sorry state of having an older child, who has learned not to eat vegetables; and who thinks they are an occasionally torture that you inflict - accompanied by all sorts of ridiculous games to trick them, you will have to "undo" the bad habits that have developed. Where ever possible AVOID getting your child into bad eating habits with the following advice:

1. Start early! As soon as the child begins solid food introduce them to the flavour of real vegetables. Avoid the tins and packets. Cook and mash your own vegetables.Whatever vegetables you are eating are generally suitable - pumpkins and potatoes, carrots and peas. Just make sure they are nicely mashed to avoid choking hazards. As the child grows you can gradually introduce whole cooked vegetables and then chopped raw vegetables such as carrots, and expand their repertoire of vegetables as opportunity arises.

2. Eat vegetables everyday. Offer the young child (mashed) vegetables everyday. Let them know that this is a staple part of the diet they will have for the rest of their lives. There may be days when they don't eat as much as you would like, but they are learning that this is their diet.If they have to go to childcare - or for some reason you are not able to look after them - be especially careful that they don't slip into bad eating habits with convenience foods.

3. Educate them. From young ages start telling them what is good for them and what is not. Point out what is junk food and what is wholesome food. Let them know the harm that junk food can do to them - from making them fat, to rotting their teeth. Let them know the benefits of good food, including those daily vegetables - from helping them grow tall and strong, to making them clever.

4. Avoid trying to disguise vegetables in sauces, or hiding them away in pies or pasties where the child never actually sees vegetables. You may think that you are at least getting some vegetable matter into them, but you chances are you are also (i) hiding the vegetable taste (that you really want them to be learning to recognize!) and (ii) introducing processed food in sauces or other.

5. Be a good example. Since you want vegetables to be a part of your child's diet make sure that you eat them as well, and let the child see you enjoy them - go for extra serves occasionally and miss out on your dessert because you wanted the vegetables more!

6. Involve your child in preparation and give them responsiblity. Older children do enjoy the "grown-up" job of preparing food whether it is washing and scrubbing vegetables, or for older children chopping and scraping. If you use fresh vegetables (and not tinned or frozen) there is always plenty of chance to get the children involved. If  the vegetables are from your garden or window box they can also enjoy helping to grow them.

If children start early, eat fresh vegetables daily, see you eating them, know why they are good for them and the rest of their diet is not too polluted with processed food, then you can be sure that they will come to love eating their vegetables! If you need to "undo" some learning then the sooner you start the better!

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