My nieces and nephews have taught me much about how children approach food and how difficult it can be to get them to eat their vegetables. Yesterday, The New York Times highlighted 6 Food Mistakes Parents Make and it confirmed that holding dessert ransom or demanding just one bite will not encourage kids to eat a healthy array of foods.
This summer I succeeded in getting my nephew to try roasted rosemary beets by offering them as part of the meal that everyone was enjoying, and telling him about the farm where they were grown. I kept the offer casual and when he thought no one was looking, he quietly took a nibble. Pretty soon he was reaching for a second helping. Kids become enthusiastic about meals when they know where the food came from and how it was prepared, so bring them out to the garden and into the kitchen. I’m not her biggest advocate, but even Rachel Ray is getting into it.
Here are 6 common mistakes parents make followed by a few tips of my own that can help avoid caving to the demands of a finicky and narrow palate:
1. Keeping kids out of the kitchen: Kids are more likely to enjoy what they eat and to try new things if they have a hand in creating the meal
2. Coercing them to take just one more bite: Avoid rewards or punishments, which often backfire, and instead keep the food on the table and encourage them to try it.
3. Stowing sweets and salty snacks out of reach: Don’t increase the allure of the forbidden; rather, make healthful snacks abundant and accessible.
Rachel Ray has been outed by Michelle Malkin as the Jihadi I had always suspected she was. But now, thanks to Malkinian journalism, we have the proof: an incriminating Dunkin Donuts ad in which Ray dons a Keffiyeh, a traditional head scarf worn by Arab men.