Even your picky Small Fry can learn to LOVE salads!
Yep! You read that correctly. I believe most kids (even the one holding you hostage with dino nuggets) can learn to love leafy greens and everything that comes in between. The secret lies in exposure and starting with ingredients your kids already love.
Strawberry Ketchup Vinaigrette Salad
on a stick! Presenting salad in a fun way, with familiar snack foods (like pretzels, strawberries, and string cheese) can be fun for your picky Small Fry to explore.
Salad falls into a similar category as spicy food, or foods with unique and robust flavors. Parents tend to shy away completely, and label it "adult-only food". But why? Isn't all food, just "food"? I'm a big believer in serving our kids the same foods we as adults eat to nourish our bodies. If you're a parent who loves salads, offer it to your kiddos as well!
"But my kids won't eat salad, they'll think it's gross!" is what I often hear from parents. But how will you know if it's never offered at mealtime?
Ready to give salad a spin around your dinner table? Here are my tips for a successful salad exposure:
Start with small portions. A "taste" of a new food is less foreboding than a huge serving. Your child can always ask for more! Plus, starting small leads to less frustration about food waste.
Add in their favorite snack foods as toppings. Use your child's favorite snack foods to make a salad look familiar: fruits and crunchy veggies, snack crackers as croutons, (such as goldfish!) even cubed string cheese works great!
Make a dressing together using their favorite dips. What kid doesn't love ketchup? Try making my strawberry ketchup vinaigrette together. Interacting with ingredients that make up new foods like salad dressing can help bridge the gap between "Yuck!" to "Hmmm... I wonder what my creation tastes like?" Got a ranch dipper? My creamy basil ranch dressing served on the side can be familiar and FUN.
Serve it on a stick! Yes, it takes a bit more effort, but adding an "element of FUN" is key for successful new food exposures. To date, I have yet to meet a Small Fry who doesn't love eating anything on a stick!
Adjust your expectations. If you expect your child to lick their salad plate clean the first few times it's served at mealtime, you will likely be disappointed. Instead, focus on the small victories! Did your child look, touch, smell, taste? Even if your child picks out just the goldfish croutons, I say celebrate! Your picky kid is picking through a salad, people!
Use my Four Food Senses Guide to explain what's served, what you like about it, then change the dinner topic completely! Telling a child what to expect from a new food like salad helps remove any anxiety about what said new food may taste like. "Tonight, Charlie and I made a yummy dip for our strawberry salad with ketchup! It tastes sweet and tangy like normal ketchup but more fun to dip with salad. The lettuce is cold and crunchy like a carrot, and I think it tastes best dipped in dressing." And that's the end of talking about their plate, or what they do or don't eat. Kids are more inclined to explore if not one is pressuring or intently watching them. If your child chooses to mention something about their food use the same Four Food Senses Guide to help them describe what they see, touch, smell, taste!
Use their interests to your favor. Finding a corollary between your child's favorite show, character, or game, and new foods are one of my top-secret weapons! I've witnessed a red-sauce phobic Small Fry dive into a plate of lasagna because "it's Garfield's favorite food!", and I've watched green sugar snap peas look "yummy" to a kid who swore off green vegetables after finding out Beast Boy from Teen Titans Go! is a vegetarian.
Two bowls of salad sit atop a grey tablecloth. Each bowl has Brussel sprouts, kale, cheeses, and almonds. Also on the table cloth are two silver forks.
You may be surprised to see your Dinosaur -loving small fry enjoy my
shredded brussel sprout and kale salad
, if he gets to pick out the dinosaur kale at the grocery store. Likening the ingredients to things they like (i.e. kale leaves are dinosaur friendly food) can be the trick to creating a salad lover!