I've read that a good way to get your kids to eat a wider variety of foods is to get them in the kitchen and let them help cook. According to many experts, getting them involved in the cooking process gives them a sense of ownership and pride in what they are eating.
Now imagine the sense of ownership and pride your kids would feel if they were involved in the process of growing their own food! When kids help in selecting what plants to grow and then plant the plants (or even better, start the plants from seed!), tend to the plants and help harvest them, they are excited about it! They want to eat what they have helped grow. The battle to get them to eat their fruits and vegetables is displaced by their excitement.
Growing vegetables and fruits with your children teaches them about where food comes from. It teaches them that food just doesn't magically appear in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. It teaches them that food is a valuable resource that shouldn't be wasted or taken for granted. It shows them that people work hard to grow plants, and that plants are living things.
Gardening with my kids has enabled me to introduce fruits and vegetables into their diet so much easier than if we just went to the store and bought them. They love picking out the seeds at the store, watching their seedlings grow, and planting the plants in the ground come spring.
They love weeding, hoeing, digging, and looking for 'bad' bugs. They especially love to pick the food when it's ready to be harvested!
They love to look for worms and they get excited about the good things the worms will do for their garden.
My son calls dibs on the first blueberry of the season and eagerly looks for it every time he goes outside.
My kids fight over raw peas that they pick off of the vine. They scramble to pick the raspberries off of the bush. They pick raw spinach leaves and eat them right there and then. They eat raw green beans, broccoli, and tomatoes while they are standing in the garden.
They know from experience that fruits and vegetables taste better when they are fresh and organic. I teach them that produce has more nutrients in it closer to harvest. If we are cooking and I need an herb, they love to go out and pick a few leaves.
They get excited about trying new recipes with food from the garden. They love coming home from a weekend away to see how much the garden has grown. They love proudly proclaiming at the dinner table that we are eating 'their zucchini' or 'my eggplant' that they grew.
Getting kids involved in the garden is not always the easiest thing to do, especially when they are younger and don't really understand why you have to be careful where you are stepping and that you can't pull off fruits or vegetables before they are ready. It requires more patience than if you were to do it alone...but the results are so worth it!
Gardening with your kids doesn't have to be complicated or extremely involved for you to see immediate, positive results. Simply having a pot of tomatoes growing on your deck that your children help you nurture sets the stage for a healthy relationship with fruits and vegetables. Start small and see where it leads. Pick something that your children already like to eat and begin with that. Each small success that you have can motivate you to do more!
As always, if you are interested in getting some gardening help, contact me! It can feel overwhelming when you don't know where to begin. Let me help you focus on what is necessary and important so that you can enjoy the process of gardening. We can get your kids involved and you will be so glad you did!
