It is not always easy to introduce children to a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, dairy products, healthy fats, etc. Which mother or father does not know this? If you ask children what they want, the answer is the same every day. With a few child-friendly tricks, however, it is possible to make a varied diet palatable to the little foodies.
- Involve your child in the preparation of food
Whether chopping vegetables, stirring the dishes or tasting and seasoning – when children participate in the preparation of the food, their enthusiasm for food is awakened and the result on the plate becomes a personal highlight. - Be a role model
Children are strongly oriented to the eating habits of their parents. Show your children that you yourself also like fresh and varied food, and let your children participate. - Children love fairy tales and stories
Connect a particular dish with a story, link the components of the meal with experiences or give the food a theme – then it tastes twice as delicious to the little ones. - Child-friendly dressing
Sprinkle a face of cress on breads with herb curd or drape tomatoes, yellow peppers and green salad in traffic light colors on the plate. This arouses the curiosity and enthusiasm of children. - Don’t give up right away if your child doesn’t want to eat right away. Perhaps the delicious stuffed peppers are spurned for the time being, but as a raw food with dip bell pepper strips are a much-loved snack at TV night.
- Together with your children, find fun nicknames for certain dishes. For adults it may seem rather daunting, but children much prefer to eat “Smurf food” or “vampire elixir” than plain vegetable stew or tomato soup.
- Old tried and true in a new form
Think about what your children like and transform this into new dishes. Pancakes, for example, do not always have to be sweet – hearty with spinach and a little cheese they become a healthy main course. - Children have an innate preference for sweet things. Make use of this preference and refine, for example, salad dressings with a little honey or sugar. This gives the salad a very special touch and tastes good for the whole family. For the salad dressing is recommended a tasteless oil such as fine rapeseed oil.
- Let it crackle!
When food crunches and crackles, when there are playful touch stimuli in the mouth, then it tastes especially good to children. Refine dishes with croutons, dried fruits and vegetables and the little ones will be delighted. - Children pay attention to subtleties. If one little thing is not right, the whole meal will be rejected. A great “packaging” in the form of a fun table decoration or colorful plates and bowls make the contents much tastier.
