Parenting Tips: 8 Ways To Encourage Your Kids To Eat Vegetables – News18

Last Updated:May 20, 2025, 16:49 IST

Encouraging kids to eat veggies can be tough, but making it fun with cartoons, creative shapes and making innovative meals can foster healthier habits & a lifelong love for greens

Getting children to enjoy vegetables can often feel like an uphill battle. For many parents, mealtimes become a source of frustration, as children shy away from anything green on their plates. However, experts suggest that with creativity and patience, vegetables can become a favourite part of a child’s diet.

1. Use Cartoons To Make Veggies Fun: Paediatrician Dr Ravi Malik advises that patience is key when encouraging healthy eating habits in children. He warns against scolding, as it can backfire and create a negative association with food. Instead, he recommends linking vegetables with children’s favourite cartoon characters, for example, telling them spinach will make them strong like Popeye or that eating okra will give them superhero powers like Iron Man.
2. Get Creative With Shapes And Colours: Transforming vegetables into fun shapes using cutters, such as stars, hearts, or smiley faces, can make them visually appealing. Parents can also arrange vegetables on a plate to form faces or animals, making mealtimes both fun and nutritious.
3. Hide Veggies In Their Favourite Foods: If children refuse vegetables in plain form, parents can sneak them into dishes they already enjoy. Finely chopped vegetables can be added to cutlets, idlis, dosas, or sandwiches. Mixing vegetables into pasta or rice dishes also enhances flavour and increases the likelihood of acceptance.
4. Spring Rolls, Wraps, And Roti Rolls: Turning vegetables into hand-held favourites such as spring rolls or roti wraps can be a clever way to get kids on board. Children often find these formats more enjoyable than a traditional plate of cooked vegetables.
5. Let Children Join In The Cooking: Involving children in the cooking process can help spark their interest. Whether it’s washing vegetables, mixing salad ingredients, or assembling a sandwich, engaging children in food preparation allows them to feel ownership and curiosity about what they eat.
6. Storytelling And Positive Messaging: Children respond well to stories. Narrating tales about different vegetables or explaining their benefits in a playful, story-like manner can make them more relatable. Reinforcing positive food behaviours through storytelling helps children understand why vegetables are good for them.
7. Lead By Example: One of the most effective ways to encourage children to eat vegetables is by modelling the behaviour yourself. Children imitate their parents, so if you eat vegetables regularly and with enjoyment, your child is more likely to follow suit. Eating together as a family reinforces these habits.
8. Avoid Junk Food Dependency: Keeping children away from highly processed snacks and sugary foods is also important. Once children develop a taste for junk food, convincing them to switch to healthier alternatives becomes even more difficult. Encourage moderation and introduce healthier options early on.

Helping children develop a love for vegetables doesn’t have to involve tears or tantrums. With a little creativity, encouragement, and shared enthusiasm, mealtimes can become an opportunity to build lifelong healthy eating habits.

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