Do you spend time arguing with your kids about them not eating a wide range of vegetables and fruit in their lunchbox?
Here’s my tip, when it comes to packing their school lunchboxes with real food (vegetables and fruit), keep it simple – Go With What They Like In The Lunchbox.
Laura Trotta, a leading voice in Eco Living and the brains by the exclusive online club Self Sufficiency In The Suburbs recently interviewed me for her Eco Chat Podcast. It wasn’t until I listened back to it, that I remembered an ‘interesting discussion’ I had with our 10 year old daughter when I was packing the school lunchboxes. It went something like this.
Me. “I’m going to pop some cucumber in your lunchbox today.”
Indrani. “No mum, I DON’T like cucumber.”
Me. “When was the last time you tried it with your tongue”.
Indrani. “But muuuuuuum (read this in a whiny voice), I DON’T like cucumber.”
All of a sudden it dawned on me. I thought:
why am I arguing with her about bleep’n cucumber when she already eats broccoli, capsicum, carrot, corn, beans, tomatoes, little bits of celery and will happily have all of these in her lunchbox.
The moral of this blog is when it comes to packing vegetables and fruit in lunchboxes, go with what they like. Rather than pack real food (vegetables and fruit) only for it to come home, pack the real food you know they like and eat.
Then educate and broaden their tastebuds at home with breakfast, snacks and dinner. You can use pick plates or tasting plates to encourage them to try more vegetables and fruit. Simply put a big chopping board or a nice place in the middle of the table with a wide range of vegetables and fruit for them to choose from. Be sure to have the usual ones they like on there, but add in new ones too. A word of caution, this takes time. Don’t expect the first afternoon or night you put them out, that they will be chosen from the plate. Be prepared to take the leftovers to work yourself the next day. Then a couple of days later, do it all over again. Put out the platter, let them see you eating it all – maybe add a few different dips too as this often encourages more adventurous eating. Rinse and repeat until they are use to seeing these foods and try them.
I’ve had many people say “I wish I could get my kids to eat broccoli in their lunchbox.” The truth of the matter is our kids didn’t just start eating broccoli in their lunchbox. For a long time, all they ate were carrots, carrots and more carrots. But over quite some time to exposing them to a range of vegetables at home, they now eat loads of variety of vegetables in their lunchbox.
I am serious –
It’s all about small consistent steps. Keep doing this, being the stand, and eventually they will follow.
It doesn’t matter if it happens overnight, in 6 weeks, 6 months, a year – the fact is, you are making forward movement in your efforts to get your family eating a wider variety of vegetables and fruit.