Saturday, June 12, 2010

Eat a Rainbow Every Day!

Pin It Now! I am a produce junkie. I love to eat it, and I think it is beautiful. I serve a lot of it to my kids. It is normal for them to have several different kinds on their lunch plates. (When my kids have a friend over for lunch, I think it is so funny sometimes to watch their face as they stare at the plate like, "What in the world?!")

I like to tell my kids how important it is to eat a rainbow everyday! At lunch I ask, "How many colors do you have on your plate?" I think my older 2 boys are getting tired of this game, but my 4 year old still loves counting out the colors. :)

Lunchtime is also a time when I let them pick and choose some of the items they will eat. Not everyone has to have the exact same thing. (Dinner is a different story--one meal or no meal!)For instance, my oldest son likes cucumbers and radishes, but the other two don't. So they can pick carrots or celery. I serve carrots every single day, actually. Have you tried the yellow baby carrots?

Usually fruits and veggies take up half of their plate space. And, unless they are super hungry for some reason, I only serve 1/2 a sandwich if that's what we are having. Sandwiches are pretty filling, so serving 1/2 makes more room for the really good stuff!!

It took forever for my second son to branch out and try other veggies besides carrots, but he finally tried celery and loves it! And my daughter, well, she is still pretty picky with veggies, but I am hoping she comes around, too. One thing I have to remember is: If I don't make it available, they definitely won't eat it.

I even pushed myself and ate Brussels sprouts a few weeks ago. I remember HATING them as a kid. You know what? I actually liked them, and so did my first born. But he likes almost everything. I am even more picky than he is!

How do you get your kids to eat a rainbow?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We eats lots of colors over here too. It is just how we eat. I too let the kids pick lunch since dinner is planned out by the week. I think by eating lots of different things since they were babies, they just do the same as kids. And where do you find the yellow carrots??

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...