The Secret to Getting Kids to Eat Their Vegetables
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Fuse/Thinkstock(CHICAGO) — Why won’t kids eat their vegetables? Other than “What happens when we die?,” it’s the question that has frustrated mankind more than any other.
Researchers from Northwestern University didn’t set out to find out why children are so resistant to eating beans, broccoli and other veggies. Rather, their mission was to learn how to entice youngsters to drop their objections to greens and such.
It appears they may have found that elusive magic bullet. They believe that parents may have been using the wrong strategy all along in convincing their kids to eat their vegetables, which is by emphasizing the so-called health benefits of these foods.
Michal Maimaran and Ayelet Fishbach say that kids are too hip to buy the story that somehow they’re going to get bigger, stronger and faster from consuming vegetables.
Now here’s the secret. After conducting a series of experiments, the researchers said children were more apt to eat their veggies when parents either said nothing or if it was presented as the best-tasting thing ever put on the planet.
Bottom line: the whole Popeye-spinach connection doesn’t cut it anymore.
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