Real Moms Reveal The Secrets To Getting their Tiny Tikes To Eat Healthy!
Does your mom tell you tales of how hard it was to feed you when you were a tiny tike? Does she tell you about the elaborate story lines she had to come up to divert your attention and sneak that tiny spoon of rice into your mouth? Yeah! Unfortunately, kids don’t seem to consider food as important as trying to loiter out and playing in the mud. Or in this generation scrolling through the iPad.
But we adults know that in order to grow (or live for that matter), you must eat! So it’s up to the mommies to get these rebellious dieters to eat, and eat well at that!
So, this Mother’s day lets get hack the kitchen with these useful tips!
At Cucumbertown we have a lot of quirky posts about how a mom got her four-year-old to eat porridge under the guise of it being pudding. So for the benefit of all you traumatised parents with kids that refuse to eat unless it’s McDonalds, here are some tried and tested secrets from the Mommy Brigade!
Make Food Fun
Let’s face it. When you are a kid who has just discovered Lego, you are clearly not going to want to eat fruit, no matter how nutritious it is. So try and find ways to make eating and food fun. And contrary to popular belief, no, it’s not all that hard. Look at these two recipes, both are great ways to get the children to start munching. For instance, like the second recipe where the fruits are stacked together, make it a game of building blocks with fruit. Kids would love to see the building demolished with the eating skills!
Smiley Faces Really Work
When Maris Francis posted a recipe of ragi idlis adorned with cashews on Facebook sometime back, I wondered why. But her explanation was simple enough. Kids like smiley faces, so even if it the same old idli that the rest of the family is eating, add a cashew smile to your toddlers idli and see the difference. From pancakes to cookies to pasta, drawing a smiley face on the food you are serving your little one can make a world of difference. Kids are adorable in their simplicity, so a simple trick like this can bring a smile to their faces and get them to eat that pasta which they would refuse to otherwise. So the next time your toddler refuses a plate of rice, draw a little smiley face with some daal and you will be surprised how easily they will be convinced to eat it.
Get creative with that Waffle Iron
Do your kids refuse to eat that dosa? Does your little boy hate eggs? Bring out the waffle iron and see them polishing that plate. We tried this with a dosa batter for my niece. One minute she was refusing the dosa we were all eating and the next minute she was eating her special waffle dosa like there was no tomorrow. And this recipe for the waffle has a lot of power packed ingredients including bananas and eggs, so it will be perfect for breakfast.
Colour Me Pretty
Twin Mommy, Nirmala Prem talks about how anything that is colourful is automatically worthy of a bite or sip with her kids. Beetroot muffins, carrot pancakes and spinach dosas can make your children’s food colourful while retaining the health quotient. Of course, steer clear of artificial colouring, cos that’s not exactly the healthiest thing in the world.
Replace all that sugar with date syrup
We are all sensitive to the damages of sugar to the little ones. But there is no denying the fact that they love the sweet stuff. So replace all that sugar in cookies, sweets and cakes with some date syrup. Super delicious and super healthy!
Carrot ketchup instead of sugary store bought ketchup for the ketchup lovers
Are your kids finishing bottle after bottle of super sugary, store bought ketchup? Try this healthy carrot alternative, and stop worrying about the house being torn down with all that sugar high!
Bake instead of fry
Mommies are obviously careful with the amount of fried things their little ones eat. In a casual conversation with one of our food blogger mommies, she talked about how she had changed around most popular fried recipes into baked versions. So if your kiddo is demanding a plate of fried chicken, bake up some yummy crispy chicken, serve it with some of that carrot ketchup, and there you have it. A super healthy meal!
Get Cheesy or Go Pastafarian
Another big one that a lot of the mommies vouched for was spreading a layer of cheese over pretty much everything. Basically hiding the veggies under the cheese can get your little ones to eat up even broccoli like there’s no tomorrow. But don’t go overboard with the cheese, resort to this only when all else fails! Another thing to do here is to get the veggies in a bowl of pasta. Kids love pasta and this is your best opportunity to sneak in all the greens you want to.
Want more tips from our food bloggers? Write to us on chef@cucumbertown.com and we will come back to you with more tips and tricks
Happy Mothers Days!
