Getting your family to eat more fruits and vegetables can be difficult, but here are a few ideas you can try to encourage your kids to eat and enjoy more fruits and vegetables.

Eat Lots of Fruits and Vegetables Yourself

Let your kids see you eating and enjoying vegetables yourself, and they may come to see it as a normal part of everyday life. Studies show that kids’ preferences are often shaped by what parents offer, and how persistent parents are in repeatedly offering a food that children may not like at first. The earlier you start, the better — studies show that children age 2-4 are more likely to accept new foods. Planting vegetables in your garden or bringing kids to see how vegetables are grown at a local farm can encourage children to become more interested in eating vegetables and fruit.

Involve Kids in Food Preparation

Involve your kids in preparing the vegetables — this may make them more interested in eating the food they help to make. Give them a choice as to what toppings or condiments they want with their vegetables — do they like celery sticks with peanut butter, broccoli with cheese sauce, or ranch dressing with cucumbers? Allowing kids to have some say in the preparation and taste of the food may reduce the likelihood of them fighting with parents over eating vegetables. Giving kids a choice in fruits when you go shopping at the grocery store may also encourage them to eat the food they have chosen.

Offer Kids a Variety of Vegetables

Your children may fight with you over eating Brussels sprouts, but that’s a battle you may be willing to lose if they show a preference for eating other vegetables. Offer a variety of produce, and you encourage your child to become a person who is willing to try an abundant diversity of food. It is only natural for kids, as well as adults, to have preferences for certain vegetables. Presenting kids with a large variety means that some vegetables will likely be accepted.

Make Vegetables Taste Good and Look Fun

Nobody likes bland, tasteless and watery vegetables. Experiment with ways to add flavor to vegetables. Try roasting sweet potatoes to bring out the sweetness and produce a flavorful crust, or cooking carrots in a slightly sweet maple syrup glaze. Try cutting vegetables into a variety of cute and fun shapes that will make kids more likely to try them.

Include the Vegetables in Dishes Kids Like

Sometimes children are not willing to eat a separate serving of vegetables on their plate, but may be willing to eat vegetables if it is part of another dish that they like. For example, make a pasta dish that your kids like, and chop up some sweet bell peppers and mix them into the pasta. Make a pizza with plenty of vegetable toppings and do not offer a cheese-only pizza as an option. Make a purée of squash or cauliflower, and stir a portion of the vegetable purée into buttery mashed potatoes.

It is important that you make eating vegetables a normal part of daily life — not something that deserves a special reward, but something rewarding and delicious in and of itself.