Do you and the children eat 3 Veg & 2 fruit a day?
It's very important to have your fruit and veg's and even more important to get the your children to have theirs as well. On of the most easiest ways of encouraging your children to eat these is having them involving the the growing and preparing of these... Yep it's that easy!!!
Most babies eat fruit and vegetables as one of their first solid foods, though after the first year they become a little more fussy with food. To keep them interested in fruit and veg sometimes you need to make this fun and here is a few tips
1. If you want to start a veg & fruit patch, get the kids involved in choosing what to plant and the planting and maintaing of the garden. Kids love getting their hands dirty and they will love this, especially seeing it grow, then picking it and they will be proud when it gets to the table.
2. If you haven't the room or the time for gardening. Try taking the kids grocery shopping or to the fruit & veg markets and get them to pick out their own fruit & veg. Your aim is to get them involved in the own process so they will be more inclined to eat them.
3. Make eating fruit & veg fun every day by getting the kids to help peel and prepare fruit as snacks and veg's at dinner time.
4. Children need to have the opportunity to learn, or sometimes to re-learn, to enjoy their fruit and vegetables. So make them available and remember sometimes it can take up to 10 times before a child is ready to properly eat a new fruit or veg so be persistent.
5. Include vegetables and fruit in a range of ways and with most meals and snacks and make it fun, cut them in different way and don't forget that raw veg's as snacks are often great too.
6. All vegetables and fruits are healthy and variety is VERY IMPORTANT.... they can be fresh, frozen, tinned or dried. They may be raw, cooked, steamed, boiled, microwaved, stir-fried or roasted. Also the better ones are the orange, green and red varieties.
7. Lastly.... have fun and enjoy ..... sometime you need to make food fun for it to be consumed. Just a few ideas below....
Corn on the cob (mini cobs for little ones)
Jacket potato
Pumpkin soup or minestrone
Cut-up vegetables with salsa or yoghurt dips
Muffins or pikelets added fruit or vegetables
Frozen fruit or vegetable segments
Skewers of fruit/veg (veg can be cooked)
Fruit crumble
Tinned fruits in natural juice
Fruit salad
quiche
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- Super Food Idea for Babies, Toddlers & Children
