Most children do not like to eat fruits, especially ones that are not very sweet, and this is expected. Fruits have natural, subtle and mild tastes and there are no intense flavours to them which make children dislike most of the fruits as they are used to having food that has artificial flavour added to them in the form of snacks. Parents, on the other hand, need to ensure that their children have a healthy serving of fruit every once in a while. Read on to learn different ways in which you can make your child eat fruits.If you have a kid at home you must be aware of how difficult the task of making them eat fruits is, which may prove to be harder than you might have assumed it to be initially. We know that eating fresh fruits is very important for overall health, growth and development. Fruits are a major contributor to a well-balanced diet, they have tonnes of nutrients in the form of vitamins, minerals, fibres etc… all of which are necessary for the wholesome well-rounded development of your child. They are also a great alternative for your child’s sweetness cravings as opposed to commercial confectionaries that use a lot of sugar, artificial sweetener, artificial flavours and food colouring that are not good for your child. In reality, nearly half of the children do not eat even one serving of fresh fruits daily, and this has to change as fruits give your children the energy they need for the day without harmful effects that other things in the market do. Given below are some easy ways to try and help your child like and eat fresh fruits daily.10 Ways to Make Your Child Eat Fresh FruitsHave a quick look at the 10 ways by which you can make your child, or atleast encourage them to, eat fresh fruits.1. Be a Role ModelAlways keep in mind that children follow what they see their parents doing. Growing up, children model a majority of their behaviour after their parents. They are still exploring the world, and may not always know the right way to go about things, and look to their parents for cues. Try to set a good example as this would be the best idea to start with. If you along with your spouse eat fresh fruits routinely, your child is definitely going to follow suit. You can even turn it into a nice family time activity, where all of you sit together and peel and cut and munch on fruits as you talk. Of course, the child cannot cut fruits but maybe they can help with peeling the banana or tangerines etc…2. Make it a RoutineThe best way to encourage something in your child is to make them fall into the habit of it. That way, they will be mentally prepared for it and be less likely to be fussy about it too. Children need to be fed every three to four hours, as that is how long it takes for their digestive systems to digest food. If they go for longer than that and are hungry for long, they could have acidity and indigestion. So it would be a good idea to use fruits as snacks in between of meals. It will also deter them from other unhealthy snacks, and they will get the benefits of fruits too. If you plan every meal and snack beforehand and let your child know about it, you will find it easy to initiate and add fresh fruits to your child’s daily diet schedule.3. Make SmoothiesSome children do not like fruits in their raw and fresh form and often the reason is their light taste. Some might even not like the texture some fruits have, maybe they are too fibre-y or too soft for your child to enjoy them. The workaround to that is to simply make them into smoothies. Once blended, they will not be able to taste the texture at all. And the added benefit will be nutrients from whatever you choose as the base of the smoothie, be it milk or yoghurt. You can prepare smoothies by adding milk or yoghurt, the fruit or fruit pulp and a little bit of sugar so that the taste gets enhanced, is sweet enough and your child likes it. The pulp of the fruits along with milk will make a special and sufficiently nutritious food item for your child, that you can serve either as breakfast when they are in a rush or as a snack. You can serve in a tall transparent glass with colourful straw to make it all the more appealing. Smoothie bowls are another way you can serve this delicious recipe to them.4. Find out the Taste of Your ChildEveryone has their own likes and preferences, as every human is unique and different. Similarly, children are different individuals and they all have different tastes too. Catering their fruit intake to the tastes they prefer will not only make it easier for you to feed them fruits that are essential for their health, but they will truly enjoy the fruits more too. Find whether your child likes sweet things or sour ones. This is because fruits generally tend to fall into these two categories in terms of their strongest taste or flavour. Some fruits are majorly sweet, like bananas or apples. Others, like citrus fruit, are sweet and sour, such as tangerines and strawberries. However, if your child is someone who likes salty/savoury and spicy food more, you can make a fruit salad and add dry mango powder and other spices, considering their taste buds, and serve it to your child. Even guava that is sliced and rubbed with a little chilli powder and black salt may appease them. On the other hand, if your child has a sweet tooth, add sweet toppings to the fruit salad, such as honey or maple syrup or even cinnamon that will help bring out the sweetness more.5.Present in Different ColoursChildren find great joy in things that are colourful, as it presents a source of visual stimulation. They become utterly fascinated at the different and vivid colours the world around them has, and get attracted to it. Parents can use this to their advantage to help their children eat more fruit, and the biggest plus to this is that fruits are naturally colourful. This will be of great help if your child is very young. Serve your child fruits that are of different colours. She will definitely like colourful items on the plate and finish the whole plate by altering the colours. A very fun and educational activity would be if you mix up the fruit salad and tell them to name the colours on their spoon for each bite. This will be fun and engaging for them, but can also be very educational.6. Offer Small ServingsIf a child is forced or persuaded to eat a whole fruit, which they may not like, they will not do that, at least, willingly. If anything, the thought of finishing the entire thing will overwhelm them from the beginning and they will probably become more aversive to the idea itself rather than even the actual fruit. A better way to encourage them to eat fruits they may not like is to give them control of how much they eat of that fruit. And save up the rest for later. This way, they won’t get overwhelmed and will focus on the fruit itself. Another good thing is since they chose how much they will eat, they will also feel like eating the fruit was their decision, so they will be less hesitant to try it again in the future. If you offer small servings and that too of small pieces of any fruit, they will likely have it readily.7. Serve Frozen FruitsKids like frozen food items a lot. During the summer, children crave for something that is cool and sweet, which is why they often ask for ice cream during summers. A good substitute, as well as a good way to make them it fruits, would be to freeze fruits and serve them. You can either serve frozen berries or top the fruit pieces with toppings of yoghurt or even ice cream, at times. They will make the fruit a yummy delight for your child. However, it is not advisable to make this a habit, of serving fruits with ice cream or some other topping because your child will not be ready to take fruits in their raw and fresh form when they grow up. So try to serve frozen fruits cut up in pieces and without additives as much as possible, so they get used to the plain taste of fruits, and reserve ice cream topping for special and rare occasions.8. Serve Dry Fruits Instead of BiscuitsMost of the time children simply want to munch on something, and this is why they start asking for snacks and other unhealthy food products. This is the perfect time to offer dry fruits, and avoid unhealthy foods for them. Usually, kids munch on biscuits and crackers which are definitely not going to provide as much nutrition as the dry fruits. They also contain maida at times, which is not the best thing for a growing body, atleast not if taken very frequently. Nuts are also important for the growth and development of different parts of your child’s body. Dry fruits are rich in fibre and contain all the goodness of fruits as well, like being rich in vitamins. If you want to include dried fruits and nuts in the diet of younger kids, who cannot chew very well yet you can grind them into a fine powder.9. Make Fruit CakeChildren love baked goods, especially cakes. Using something they already like to introduce essential nutrients into their diet is the smart way you can ensure your children have a healthy intake of fruits. You can make a fruit cake with fresh fruits or by putting all kinds of dry fruits in it if your child does not like to eat dry fruits in their natural form. You can replace butter with apple sauce in almost every recipe to make it healthier. Cakes often have maida in them though, so try to steer away from too much cake, and encourage your children to consume fruits in their natural form as much as possible.10. Go Shopping With Your ChildA fun way to involve your child in grocery shopping and also encourage them to eat fruits that are good for them is this fun game. Let your child pick the fruit that they like and then add one that is good for their health saying that it is your pick. When serving the fruits, you can say one of your choices and one of your mom’s choices and persuade your child to eat both. She will enjoy the meal this way and the fruits as well.In addition to the proven ways above, you can also try to add fruits to your child’s cereal or make a snack mix with fresh fruits and dry fruits. Offer sliced fruit with fresh cream or any other topping that your child likes. Prefer offering seasonal fruits to your child because they taste best at that time.In addition to making your child eat fresh fruits, make smart food choices and engage your child with some physical activity that she enjoys. This will help her get the right balance of good food and activities which will ultimately help her maintain a healthy lifestyle forever.Cutting back on junk food and restricting the purchase of such food items will also make your child understand the importance of nutrition in life. However, offering treat with your child’s favourite food and fruits once in a blue moon is fine. Here, educating your child about the importance of fruits and good food choices in life will be of great help. Kids obey when they know the right reason behind the imperative notion.What are the benefits of eating fruits? How to make fruits taste better for kids? What are different ways by which kids can have fruits? Discuss here.
Most children do not like to eat fruits, especially ones that are not very sweet, and this is expected. Fruits have natural, subtle and mild tastes and there are no intense flavours to them which make children dislike most of the fruits as they are used to having food that has artificial flavour added to them in the form of snacks. Parents, on the other hand, need to ensure that their children have a healthy serving of fruit every once in a while. Read on to learn different ways in which you can make your child eat fruits.
If you have a kid at home you must be aware of how difficult the task of making them eat fruits is, which may prove to be harder than you might have assumed it to be initially. We know that eating fresh fruits is very important for overall health, growth and development. Fruits are a major contributor to a well-balanced diet, they have tonnes of nutrients in the form of vitamins, minerals, fibres etc… all of which are necessary for the wholesome well-rounded development of your child. They are also a great alternative for your child’s sweetness cravings as opposed to commercial confectionaries that use a lot of sugar, artificial sweetener, artificial flavours and food colouring that are not good for your child. In reality, nearly half of the children do not eat even one serving of fresh fruits daily, and this has to change as fruits give your children the energy they need for the day without harmful effects that other things in the market do. Given below are some easy ways to try and help your child like and eat fresh fruits daily.
10 Ways to Make Your Child Eat Fresh Fruits
Have a quick look at the 10 ways by which you can make your child, or atleast encourage them to, eat fresh fruits.
1. Be a Role Model
Always keep in mind that children follow what they see their parents doing. Growing up, children model a majority of their behaviour after their parents. They are still exploring the world, and may not always know the right way to go about things, and look to their parents for cues. Try to set a good example as this would be the best idea to start with. If you along with your spouse eat fresh fruits routinely, your child is definitely going to follow suit. You can even turn it into a nice family time activity, where all of you sit together and peel and cut and munch on fruits as you talk. Of course, the child cannot cut fruits but maybe they can help with peeling the banana or tangerines etc…
2. Make it a Routine
The best way to encourage something in your child is to make them fall into the habit of it. That way, they will be mentally prepared for it and be less likely to be fussy about it too. Children need to be fed every three to four hours, as that is how long it takes for their digestive systems to digest food. If they go for longer than that and are hungry for long, they could have acidity and indigestion. So it would be a good idea to use fruits as snacks in between of meals. It will also deter them from other unhealthy snacks, and they will get the benefits of fruits too. If you plan every meal and snack beforehand and let your child know about it, you will find it easy to initiate and add fresh fruits to your child’s daily diet schedule.
3. Make Smoothies
Some children do not like fruits in their raw and fresh form and often the reason is their light taste. Some might even not like the texture some fruits have, maybe they are too fibre-y or too soft for your child to enjoy them. The workaround to that is to simply make them into smoothies. Once blended, they will not be able to taste the texture at all. And the added benefit will be nutrients from whatever you choose as the base of the smoothie, be it milk or yoghurt. You can prepare smoothies by adding milk or yoghurt, the fruit or fruit pulp and a little bit of sugar so that the taste gets enhanced, is sweet enough and your child likes it. The pulp of the fruits along with milk will make a special and sufficiently nutritious food item for your child, that you can serve either as breakfast when they are in a rush or as a snack. You can serve in a tall transparent glass with colourful straw to make it all the more appealing. Smoothie bowls are another way you can serve this delicious recipe to them.
4. Find out the Taste of Your Child
Everyone has their own likes and preferences, as every human is unique and different. Similarly, children are different individuals and they all have different tastes too. Catering their fruit intake to the tastes they prefer will not only make it easier for you to feed them fruits that are essential for their health, but they will truly enjoy the fruits more too. Find whether your child likes sweet things or sour ones. This is because fruits generally tend to fall into these two categories in terms of their strongest taste or flavour. Some fruits are majorly sweet, like bananas or apples. Others, like citrus fruit, are sweet and sour, such as tangerines and strawberries. However, if your child is someone who likes salty/savoury and spicy food more, you can make a fruit salad and add dry mango powder and other spices, considering their taste buds, and serve it to your child. Even guava that is sliced and rubbed with a little chilli powder and black salt may appease them. On the other hand, if your child has a sweet tooth, add sweet toppings to the fruit salad, such as honey or maple syrup or even cinnamon that will help bring out the sweetness more.
5. Present in Different Colours
Children find great joy in things that are colourful, as it presents a source of visual stimulation. They become utterly fascinated at the different and vivid colours the world around them has, and get attracted to it. Parents can use this to their advantage to help their children eat more fruit, and the biggest plus to this is that fruits are naturally colourful. This will be of great help if your child is very young. Serve your child fruits that are of different colours. She will definitely like colourful items on the plate and finish the whole plate by altering the colours. A very fun and educational activity would be if you mix up the fruit salad and tell them to name the colours on their spoon for each bite. This will be fun and engaging for them, but can also be very educational.
6. Offer Small Servings
If a child is forced or persuaded to eat a whole fruit, which they may not like, they will not do that, at least, willingly. If anything, the thought of finishing the entire thing will overwhelm them from the beginning and they will probably become more aversive to the idea itself rather than even the actual fruit. A better way to encourage them to eat fruits they may not like is to give them control of how much they eat of that fruit. And save up the rest for later. This way, they won’t get overwhelmed and will focus on the fruit itself. Another good thing is since they chose how much they will eat, they will also feel like eating the fruit was their decision, so they will be less hesitant to try it again in the future. If you offer small servings and that too of small pieces of any fruit, they will likely have it readily.
7. Serve Frozen Fruits
Kids like frozen food items a lot. During the summer, children crave for something that is cool and sweet, which is why they often ask for ice cream during summers. A good substitute, as well as a good way to make them it fruits, would be to freeze fruits and serve them. You can either serve frozen berries or top the fruit pieces with toppings of yoghurt or even ice cream, at times. They will make the fruit a yummy delight for your child. However, it is not advisable to make this a habit, of serving fruits with ice cream or some other topping because your child will not be ready to take fruits in their raw and fresh form when they grow up. So try to serve frozen fruits cut up in pieces and without additives as much as possible, so they get used to the plain taste of fruits, and reserve ice cream topping for special and rare occasions.
8. Serve Dry Fruits Instead of Biscuits
Most of the time children simply want to munch on something, and this is why they start asking for snacks and other unhealthy food products. This is the perfect time to offer dry fruits, and avoid unhealthy foods for them. Usually, kids munch on biscuits and crackers which are definitely not going to provide as much nutrition as the dry fruits. They also contain maida at times, which is not the best thing for a growing body, atleast not if taken very frequently. Nuts are also important for the growth and development of different parts of your child’s body. Dry fruits are rich in fibre and contain all the goodness of fruits as well, like being rich in vitamins. If you want to include dried fruits and nuts in the diet of younger kids, who cannot chew very well yet you can grind them into a fine powder.
9. Make Fruit Cake
Children love baked goods, especially cakes. Using something they already like to introduce essential nutrients into their diet is the smart way you can ensure your children have a healthy intake of fruits. You can make a fruit cake with fresh fruits or by putting all kinds of dry fruits in it if your child does not like to eat dry fruits in their natural form. You can replace butter with apple sauce in almost every recipe to make it healthier. Cakes often have maida in them though, so try to steer away from too much cake, and encourage your children to consume fruits in their natural form as much as possible.
10. Go Shopping With Your Child
A fun way to involve your child in grocery shopping and also encourage them to eat fruits that are good for them is this fun game. Let your child pick the fruit that they like and then add one that is good for their health saying that it is your pick. When serving the fruits, you can say one of your choices and one of your mom’s choices and persuade your child to eat both. She will enjoy the meal this way and the fruits as well.
In addition to the proven ways above, you can also try to add fruits to your child’s cereal or make a snack mix with fresh fruits and dry fruits. Offer sliced fruit with fresh cream or any other topping that your child likes. Prefer offering seasonal fruits to your child because they taste best at that time.
In addition to making your child eat fresh fruits, make smart food choices and engage your child with some physical activity that she enjoys. This will help her get the right balance of good food and activities which will ultimately help her maintain a healthy lifestyle forever.
Cutting back on junk food and restricting the purchase of such food items will also make your child understand the importance of nutrition in life. However, offering treat with your child’s favourite food and fruits once in a blue moon is fine. Here, educating your child about the importance of fruits and good food choices in life will be of great help. Kids obey when they know the right reason behind the imperative notion.
What are the benefits of eating fruits? How to make fruits taste better for kids? What are different ways by which kids can have fruits? Discuss here.
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