How To Get Your Kids To Love Greens

“How do I get my children to eat veges?”

That seems to be a universal parenting problem. A research team from the University of Oregon say they have the answer: WATER. Yup, they say that giving water to children during meal times will encourage them to eat their veges.

Their conclusion came from studying 75 children, aged 3-5. They found that when given water instead of a soft drink, the children ate more raw vegetables.

What is the reasoning behind this? Study co-author Professor Bettina Cornwell attributes it to food association. Meaning children have learned from a young age to associate sweet drinks with salty and fatty foods like chips and fries.

This seems like such a simple solution. However, I don’t think the answer is that simple. They make it sound like a miracle solution. However, I’m sure they are plenty of kids out there who still will not eat their vegetables just because they’ve been give a glass of water.

However, I would agree with this quote from Professor Cornwell, “Our taste preferences are heavily influenced by repeated exposure to particular foods and drinks.” That tells me if parents just encourage healthy eating from the beginning and leave out the sweet, sugary foods from their family’s diet, maybe getting children to eat vegetables wouldn’t be such a big problem.

So what do you think, will the simple act of giving your children water during meals solve your vegetable headache?

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