Share this Page!

Increasing Your Child’s Fruits And Vegetables – It’s Not As Hard As You May Think

Anne Kolker • MS, Registered Dietitian • Apr 07, 2010

We all know that kids need to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. We heard this as kids and we certainly hear this as parents. Most of the vitamins and minerals children need to develop, grow, think and fight disease are found in fruits and vegetables.

But getting kids to eat enough fruits and vegetables seems to be a very challenging task. Most kids, in fact, more than 85% of elementary school children, do not get the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.

Increasing your child’s fruits and veggies starts with a little bit of planning. It is important to include them so they will feel more invested in improving the family’s overall diet. It is important that this be a family experience rather than “just for the kids.”

Keeping them involved and exposing them in different ways to fruits and vegetables is a key element to getting them curious and interested in these healthy food groups.

Kids are also learning about the healthy tasty fruit and vegetables on their Explorer’s page.

Planning Steps to Promoting More Fruits and Vegetables

With just a few steps you can set your child and family up for a positive experience as you begin to improve their eating habits.

Start by talking with the kids about fruits and vegetables and why they are important for everyone in the family.
Have a few positive conversations about healthy eating and what kinds of foods that includes during mealtime.
You can even show them the food pyramid and how the green and red bands represent the fruit and vegetable food group.
You can even have the family sign an agreement to add more fruits and vegetables into their daily meals.
Then keeping it fun and positive, have a colorful tracking chart on the refrigerator that the children can color in as they have a fruit or vegetable throughout the day
Have the kids list some of the fruits and vegetables they do like
Create your shopping list by food groups so the children can easily see the fruits and vegetables on the list
Have the kids help pick out the fruits and vegetables at the grocery list
Have the kids help wash and put away the fruits and vegetables