But children eating vegetables from a garden is a sight most parents can only dream of.
Parents now have help getting their kids to like healthy eating. In 2005, Recipe For Success was formed to change the way children eat vegetables.
"We're training these kids to think like a chef so they can manipulate food to taste just as good as the junkfood we're trying to get them to leave behind," Gracie Cavnar with Recipe For Success said.
The children also get help from chefs like Randy Evans with Haven Restaurant. The chef has partnered with Recipe For Success for years to help parents get kids hooked on veggies.
The best advice for parents is to incorporate lots of colors and to let children participate in the kitchen.
"We eat with our eyes," Evans said. "Let the kids cook."
For the kids participating in Recipe For Success, the program seems to be working.
"It's healthy and it has like a taste that makes it taste like wonderful," one child said.
Tips for parents:
- Choose recipes with your kids
- Make a grocery list with your children
- Have kids help pick out vegetables at store with you
- Make kitchen kid friendly (small child friendly utensils, small stools, small measuring cups)
- Work through the recipe with your child step by step
- Have fun and don't get upset if the recipe doesn't turn out perfectly
- Have them help clean-up too
- Talk about it together
- Cut vegetables in small pieces so kids can play with their food, turning pieces into pyramids, for example
- Allow for dipping
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