It’s always difficult to get your child to eat healthy. Children prefer to eat only food that starts with a P, pancakes, poffertjes, fries and pizza. While you want your child to eat fruit and vegetables. How do you ensure that children eat healthily and that there is no fight at the table? Scientists from Cornell University, New York, America looked at how they could get children to eat healthier.
Let their superhero choose
During a summer camp, researchers conducted an interesting experiment. The summer camp consisted of children aged six to twelve, with different backgrounds and different eating habits. On Wednesdays, the researchers’ children were allowed to choose what they wanted to eat: thinly sliced apple slices or fries.
In the first and fourth weeks of the summer camp, this question was asked personally to each child. Most children chose the fries. Only two of the 22 children chose the apple pieces. In the second week of the summer camp, the researchers first showed the children photos. This showed 12 role models of the children. These role models had already emerged in an earlier study. Only then were the children asked what they wanted to eat: the fries or the apple pieces. Afterwards, 45.5% of the children wanted to eat apple pieces.
In the third week of the summer camp, the researchers showed the children photos of healthy food such as salads and unhealthy food such as pizza. Only four of the 22 children chose the apple pieces. The researchers concluded that by seeing their superheroes just before eating, children start thinking about what their superheroes would choose for food. The idea is that children think that their superheroes would eat healthy and that this would make them more likely to choose healthy food themselves.
So a good question just before eating could be: what do you think your superhero would eat?
Pieces of fruit
Ask a child if he wants a candy or an apple and the child takes the candy. Adults then think that this is because a candy is nice and sweet for the child and that is why the child chooses the candy. However, researchers have indications that it is different.
Researcher visited a canteen in an elementary school in America. The researchers asked the children why they did not eat fruit. There turned out to be two reasons:
- The younger children often had problems biting off the fruit properly, often due to changing teeth.
- The older children, who had already switched, did not find it attractive to bite into a large apple.
The researchers therefore wondered whether it would help if the apple were pre-cut. They therefore gave the canteen employees a device with which an apple was easily divided into six pieces. The employees had to cut an apple into parts when a student asked for an apple. The number of apples sold increased by 71%. So it is worthwhile to pre-cut apples and other fruits for children.
Give the food a nice name
Most children don’t like vegetables. This can be changed by giving the vegetable a nice name. The researchers looked at the eating of vegetables in the canteen at two primary schools. The first month the vegetable had no name and the second month the researchers had given the vegetable all kinds of fun names. For example, carrots were called X-ray Vision Carrots and broccoli was called Power Punch Broccoli. The researchers noticed that the children started eating the trendy vegetables. 99% more vegetables were eaten.
So give the vegetables nice names and the children will eat them. For example, call green beans princess beans and Brussels sprouts energy balls.
Make it something beautiful
There is a difference between looking at food between adults and children. Adults like to see their food presented in the middle of the plate, while children prefer to see their food at the bottom of the plate. Children also like it when there is something to see in it. Therefore, try drawing a nice face on the plate with ketchup or arrange the carrots in such a way that it shows the first letter of his name. Arrange apple slices like a charm and place a grape in the middle. There is a good chance that children will finish their plate.
Children also like more color on their plates than adults. While adults want to see about three colors, children prefer six colors. So try to bring color into food. For example, eat peas and carrots with a can of corn. Don’t mix everything together with the fried rice, but make small dishes with the rice, vegetables, meat and sauce and a fried egg separately. Would you like different colors that make it attractive for children to eat?
