SCHOOL EDITION 29 MAY 2024 - Flipbook - Page 14
14
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 22 2020
Askthe Expert
How to encourage kids
to eat their vegetables
A children’s food expert
has some suggestions
that should make
youngsters eat their
greens with gusto,
writes Lisa Salmon
n Parents are often risk-averse – but children are the opposite
I worry about my
children outside
Q: MY KIDS love being
outside but I always worry
they might hurt themselves.
How can I worry less?
A: Parent coach
Lorraine Thomas, below,
founder of the Parent
Coaching Academy, says:
“Understandably the
outdoors can be a bit scary
for parents, but rather than
focusing on the potential
negatives, focus on the
positive benefits of being
outside.
“To overcome any doubts
and fears, try to remind
yourself of what you do
already. There will be lots
of outdoor things that you
do already that are very
positive – perhaps you walk
your child to school or take
the dog for a walk? Even
things that small are great
because they are a step in
the right direction.
“Once you start to feel
positive about the outdoors,
think about one thing that
you could do over the next
seven days that will
increase your time
outdoors.
Ask yourself, ‘How healthy
are we as a family?’ Put
yourself on a scale of one to
10. Where you put yourself
really doesn’t matter, as
one person’s two, might be
another’s seven.
“Once you’ve rated yourself,
think, ‘What’s one thing we
could do as a family that’s in
our control to nudge our way
up the scale?” For example,
if you don’t walk to school,
could you try it once a
week? If you already walk to
school, could you take a new
route or even get your child
to choose the way you go?
“Very often, parents are
quite risk-averse and
become accustomed to
doing everything the same
way so as to get from A-B
as quickly as possible.
However, children are the
opposite and are much
more likely to be a bit more
adventurous.
“Children will wander along
and touch a plant or stroke
a cat and eventually get to
where they’re going because
they have a real sense
of wanting to enjoy the
moment. And outdoors is
a great place to foster that
sense of wonder.”
n Lorraine Thomas is
working with Savlon as part
of their Skin Is For Living
In campaign encouraging
families to enjoy the
outdoors.
To overcome any doubts and
fears, try to remind yourself of
what you do already. There will be
lots of outdoor things that you do
already that are very positive
Lorraine Thomas
n Once
a child
has been
shopping for
vegetables,
it’s a great
idea to
involve
them
in food
preparation
too
V
EGETABLES tend not to be
children’s favourite food. In
fact, many parents are lucky to
even get a mouthful of greens
down their little one, never mind the
recommended five-a-day.
However, persuading kids to eat their
veg might not be as difficult as you
might think – research suggests, for
example, that simply seeing images of
vegetables can boost children’s intake.
Dr Natalie Masento, a food researcher
at the University of Reading, says:
“In early childhood, it’s common for
children to be fussy eaters and reluctant
to try unfamiliar foods.
This can be frustrating for parents who
are trying to ensure their children have
healthy diets but it’s reassuring to know
that familiarity is the key to making
children receptive to a varied and
healthy diet.
“It’s well established that children often
need 10 to 15 exposures to new foods
before they accept them into their
diets, but having to prepare different
vegetables on more than 10 occasions,
without them being eaten, can be very
frustrating – and costly – for many
parents.
“Research has shown, however, that
children’s acceptance of new foods can
be boosted purely by a food’s visual
familiarity, for instance by looking at
pictures.
“There are plenty of ways parents can
help their children become more familiar
with vegetables, without even serving
them on a plate.”
Here, Masento suggests five ways to
encourage fussy children to eat their
veg:
1
Show them pictures of vegetables
in books: Just seeing images of
vegetables can help familiarise
children with new foods and, ultimately,
encourage them to eat a wider variety.
A University of Reading study on
toddlers, aged between 21 and 24
months, showed some of the children
pictures in books about a target fruit
or vegetable every day for two weeks,
while others in a control group didn’t
get a book.
All the toddlers were then offered
the target foods every day for two
weeks. Compared to the control group,
looking at vegetable books enhanced
children’s liking of their target vegetable
immediately after the study and three
months later, and the authors suggest
“picture books may have positive, longterm impacts on children’s attitudes
towards new foods”.
So now, the See & Eat project, an
EU initiative involving food experts
from the University of Reading and
other European nutrition bodies, and
supported by the British Nutrition
Foundation, has produced 24 new free
ebooks to help parents familiarise their
young children with a greater variety of
vegetables.
The ebooks, which each tell the
farm-to-fork journey of a different
vegetable, can be downloaded free
from foodunfolded.com.
Explore food with all the senses:
Allowing young children to explore
vegetables with all their senses,
including touch, smell, sound and sight,
provides different opportunities for
exposure to those vegetables, even if a
child isn’t ready to eat it yet.
Parents can engage their child’s senses
by asking them to smell vegetables
when they are raw or cooked, or by
asking them to feel the vegetables to
get a sense of their texture, shape and
firmness. This technique can also be
turned into a game where children are
asked to feel a vegetable in a bag and
guess what it is.
2
4
3
5
See where veg grows and shop
for it: Showing children where
foods come from or how they
grow, or even taking them to the local
supermarket, greengrocer or farm shop
and exploring the vegetable aisles, can
provide important exposure so children
become more familiar with vegetables.
To turn shopping into a fun activity,
parents can invite their children to
choose a new vegetable to buy, making
this something they do together every
time they shop. If a family uses online
shopping services, children can be
encouraged to click on the vegetables
they would like to try.
Prepare and cook: Once a child has
been shopping for vegetables, it’s
a great idea to involve them in food
preparation too, as this gives them the
opportunity to learn from their parents’
interest in healthy foods – psychologists
call this social learning.
It’s easy to get started by inviting
children to get involved with
washing the vegetables, putting the
ingredients in a bowl, or even just
passing on utensils.
If this seems like a challenge, just letting
children watch their parents prepare
vegetables in the kitchen can help them
feel involved.
Eat vegetables together: It’s
important that parents encourage
their children to try vegetables as often
as possible, and eating together, and
eating the same meals, provides
children with the opportunity to imitate
and learn from their parents and
siblings.
Children learn about the world from
their environment, so when parents set
an example of eating healthy foods, it
can encourage children to eat well too.
It’s also important that parents give
children plenty of praise when they
try foods, but don’t pressure or punish
them if they don’t eat them.
Research has shown that children’s
acceptance of new foods can be
boosted purely by a food’s visual
familiarity, for instance by looking at
pictures
Dr Natalie Masento