How to get toddlers to eat up their greens

New Research Suggests Dinner is the Most Important Meal

Getting toddlers to eat up their greens has always been challenging and it’s something a lot of parents struggle with.

We’re lucky in our household that little C can munch his way through greens and an array of brightly coloured fruit and vegetables in a week. These days he even puts in an order for pineapple, pomegranates and watermelon before we do the weekly shop.

Now, new research Experts from the University of Eastern Finland, recently studied the behaviour patterns of children between three and five years old. They found that dinner is the most important meal at home when it comes to teaching them to eat vegetables.

Researcher and nutritionist Kaisa Kahkonen said: “Our findings show that teaching children to eat their greens is not something mothers should be doing alone. A positive example set by both parents is important, as is their encouragement of the child.”

This may explain a few things about why little C loves his greens because without fail, we always have a family meal every evening at the dining table. We share what we’ve done during the day and enjoy a home-cooked meal together.

Family time is precious to us. In our household, little C loves a little variation with raw veggies such as pickled cucumber (khiar shoor) and white cabbage (kalam sefid) served cold and green beans served hot. He loves nothing more than a plate of Persian lubia polo – green beans and rice or ghormeh sabzi (stew).

Top tips to get toddlers to eat greens:

If you’re looking to encourage your toddlers to eat their greens, it’s important to take it one step at a time.

Mix colourful veggies into their favourite meals and change the way you present them.

Get them involved in the prep too, they’ll love this, even if it’s just tipping the seasoning pot into the mix.

Most of all, make it fun!

Celebrate each saffron-infused success, savour the herb-filled victories, and soon, you’ll have a little sous chef who appreciates the beauty of Persian greens.