Age-old family dilemma: children and eating greens
For years forcing your children to eat greens is a family dilemma. By encouraging your child to eat his vegetables, you try as a parent to ensure that it absorbs enough vitamins. But what if we try the opposite and don’t force our toddlers? In my opinion, children (between the age of one and six) shouldn’t be forced to eat greens. It not only gives children the courage to become a varied and healthy eater on their own by not forcing them, there are also enough other products that contain the necessary nutrients children need. Added to this, the power struggle can be left behind with all the worries and shame of your children not eating vegetables. But still, isn’t is very important that children eat vegetables every day in order to meet their body requirements?
First of all, children are more likely to eat their greens if they are not forced by their parents or guardian to do so according to a series of experiments which American psychologists carried out on four year old toddlers. Apparently, children who were encouraged to eat healthy products turned out to eat less of it. The pressure ensures not only that they eat less vegetables, it also brings negative feeling towards healthy products. It is better for children to go their own way. Children will eventually open up to healthy products and will create a varied diet in their own time. Main reason for this is peer group pressure, which is much more powerful than parental pressure. Children will become a varied and healthy eater when (for example) friends at school or university try different kinds of food. They would think they look foolish for not trying different kinds of food too.
Get those nutrients elsewhere!
In addition, the human body is more complex and more willing to change than we are aware of. For example, the Kitava tribe of Papua New Guinea lives on a diet that for the most part consists of coconut, some fish and sweet potato. They don’t consume any green vegetables, but they are healthy, have strong teeth and good skin. Green vegetables contain nutrients that can be found in other products without difficulty. According to Charlotte Stirling-Reed of the Nutrition Society, an independent company that distributes and promotes nutritional science, the human body is very ingenious and can adjust to a different situation or condition over generations. The human body can work with every resources it has available. By eating an expansive variety of various foods you will be able to get those nutrients from green vegetables elsewhere, says Charlotte. Other sources are for example meat and fish, fruit, beans and lentils.
Leave the power struggle behind
Finally, the concern about children eating healthy products and enough greens is too much but it is not the only thing you can worry about. It has as much to do with social display, social disgrace and a need for mastery and control. Parents and guardians don’t want their children to end up living on snacks, chips and convenience foods. Not only because it is bad for the children themselves, it’s also bad for the parents and guardians. You can say it is embarrassment that they feel. This worry and embarrassment leads in most scenarios to a power battle between the parents and their children. Children want attention, especially bad attention, and a perfect way to get it is by battling over food. As soon as you leave this power struggle behind, children are more ready to eat a different diet. Main reason: they have nothing to win by saying no to it.
On the other hand, some people still have strong feelings about children eating their green vegetables. According to the Dutch Voedingscentrum, especially for children it is very important that they eat vegetables every day in order to meet their body’s requirements. Children often aren’t  fond of eating vegetables, but by offering it more than one time they learn to eat it themselves. In childhood, children grow very quickly and therefore they need a lot of nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium for the bones and muscles, beta-carotene for the eyes and not particularly calories in the form of sugars and fats. Vegetables are indispensable, because they contain many vitamins, minerals and fiber. Each vegetable has their own different nutrients. But still, even the Dutch Voedingscentrum says that additional products, such as fruit, contains a lot of those nutrients.
In my opinion, children shouldn’t be forced to eat their greens. Imposing pressure ensures not only that they eat less vegetables, it also brings negative feeling towards healthy products. Children will eventually find their own way. Even though it has been said that greens contains various nutrients that are important to the children’s health, there are still enough other additional products that contain a lot of those needed nutrients.
