How do you convience kids to eat nutritiously?

By @n.J
December 5, 2024 7:05pm CST
I always try my best to prepare nutrient-dense breakfasts and drinks for my daughter. All mothers do. I feel down whenever my daughter does not drink or finish her morning smoothie. Since she discovered msg-laden junk food- pizza, chips, candies, ramen- her tastebuds have changed. She was influenced by her friends. Plus, her school is adjacent to a convenience store, junkfoods is easily accessible. She used to eat steamed broccoli, rice porridge with veggies, fish, mashed potatoes, boiled eggs, etc. Now, she's become a picky eater. Today her breakfast is spaghetti with hidden veggies (cabbage, carrots, lotus root) and ground beef with nutritional yeast as a cheese substitute. For her smoothie, cauliflower, carrots, almonds, and sunflower seeds. She ate the spaghetti, but she smirked when I added the nutritional yeast. She took a few sips of her smoothie. I always point out the importance of eating nutritious food for her brain development and physical nourishment. She gets annoyed. "I will eat, I will eat," she replies with a sigh of dismay. I feel down whenever she does it. Honestly, I want her to go to school tomorrow or perhaps for a week with an empty stomach. I want to know how she would feel. Maybe then she will understand why I get up early in the morning to prepare meals.
4 people like this
4 responses
@MarieCoyle (38702)
6 Dec
You don't say how old your daughter is, but I assume she doesn't have a job or earn her own money. Don't give her money to blow at the convenience store. Have one day a week that dinner is something she asks for. Fix the nutritious foods you are used to, or give her a list of ones she will eat and tell her to pick some of them for future meals. There is not much, if any, nutrition in junk foods. I wish you luck! It's hard.
1 person likes this
6 Dec
You can say that again. Indeed, it is so hard! She's only 9 years old. Thank you for your awesome suggestions.
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@MarieCoyle (38702)
6 Dec
@Iam_jauntyjen If it makes you feel any better, often kids do change. Out of my 4, two hated onions. By the time they reached their teens, they just ate them, and now they love them. Another child hated mushrooms. Now, she loves to cook with them, and she insists they are on every pizza she makes. You will get through this...if there are no junk choices to make, she will eat eventually, she isn't going to starve. You want her to be healthy, I totally understand that.
1 person likes this
6 Dec
@MarieCoyle She also abhors onions and some mushrooms. Thankfully, she likes enoki mushrooms.
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@kaylachan (71762)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
6 Dec
First of all, what you're giving your kid is good, but there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. Most people aren't always that hungry that early in the morning or when they first get up. So, maybe offer one or the other for breakfast. Pasta in and of itself is very filling. You want her to have healthy food, but don't over do it. Use her junk food as a reward and balance things out.
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@jstory07 (139974)
• Roseburg, Oregon
6 Dec
All you can do is have no junk food in the house and offer her healthy foods for each meal. Hopefully she will be hungry and eat the right foods at home.
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@Dena91 (16686)
• United States
6 Dec
It is good you are giving her good nutrition at home and talking to her about it. Perhaps as she gets older, she will make better choices. It is hard to be a kid these days and not eat junk food. We are surrounded by it.
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