Real reason kids aren’t into greens
IT used to be you could not leave the dinner table until you ate all your vegetables.
New research has found parents are now increasingly allowing their kids to decide how much they eat – but there is a downside.
Most children are not consuming enough vegies, with a survey finding 81.4 per cent of children aged 12 and under are not meeting their daily intake – a result nutritionists have labelled “dire”.
The recommended daily serves are defined as “one cup or more” of vegies, according to nutritionists.
Those aged between 8-12 were shown to be at most risk, with 16 per cent consuming the adequate portion of vegetables per day.
It came as 78 per cent of parents revealed they let their kids take ownership of their food intake.
The study was based on a national survey of 1006 parents across Australia, commissioned by children’s meal company Go! Kids.
Almost half the respondents (48 per cent) let their kids choose how much of their meals to eat.
And only 10 per cent of kids were made to complete their meal.
About 29 per cent of parents surveyed had children who “naturally” ate the entirety of what was on their plate, while 5.2 per cent of parents admitted to “hiding” healthy foods discreetly in family meals.
Only 2.5 per cent of parents admitted to “bribing” their kids, while 4.6 per cent said they “distracted” their kids into finishing their food.
Nutritionist Amelia Phillips said the results were “worrying” and there needed to be education around “wellrounded nutrition” as “too much of a relaxed approach could compromise our children’s nutritional intake”.
“The recommended serve of vegetables for children is at least one cup per day,” Ms Phillips said.
“They really should be having five different coloured vegies, about the size of their fist.
“The stats are scary . . . and really worrying, particularly for growing bodies.”
Ms Phillips – a mother of four – said forcing kids to eat “large amounts of foods they don’t like just makes them dislike it even more”.
She said it took up to 16 tries of a food before taste preferences were improved.
Given the rising cost of vegies, Ms Phillips advised parents to pick what was in season, and what was affordable based on price rises.
“Avocados are quite cheap right now,” she said. “Snap frozen vegies and fruit are really great – kids love packet food, they see it come out of a packet and they think it’s something special.”
Among her advice to parents is do not give up when kids say they “don’t like” a food.
“Don’t have a dislike list, in other words – a lot of parents say, ‘oh they tried parsnip and they don’t like it, so I am not cooking it again’. Keep trying,” Ms Phillips said.
She said parents controlled the food that went on a plate.
“It has to stay on the plate, whether they eat a large or small amount of it,” she said. “What you’ll find is, one day they will just start eating it.”
Ms Phillips said she was “quite concerned” about how rising food costs would impact kids’ diets long-term.
“Put a smaller amount on their plate, but still encourage them to try it,” she said.
“If they don’t try it, pack it up as leftovers – blend it up and put it into a soup. Try to feed them in a way that you can use those leftovers.”
As for hiding vegies in pasta sauce: “If your kid is nowhere near getting their daily vegies, I don’t mind the idea of hidden vegies . . . but it is kind of a Band-Aid treatment,” Ms Phillips said.