![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/barbie575W9068.jpg\" "\\"barbie575W9068\\"")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\tHave you ever had “special sprouts”? They’re actually Brussels sprouts, but if you say it fast, it sounds an awful lot like special sprouts, especially to a 6 and a 3-year-old. (Our very own Nanny Jane\u00a0calls them Barbie cabbages.)<\/p>\n
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I love Brussels sprouts. I admit it. (There. I said it.) So I introduced them to my girls last month. I take mine whole, saut\u00e9ed in a bit of butter, and then tossed with a splash of\u00a0balsamic vinegar and sea salt a few minutes before serving. I\u00a0eat them with abandon the same way I can eat bacon or popcorn. And guess what, so do my girls!\u00a0Mia\u00a0asks for seconds and Stella, thirds. Mia likes to peel back the layers and savor them one leaf at a time. Stella is an eat-’em-whole girl like me.<\/p>\n
Last week we had\u00a0BLTs, organic French fries, and … special sprouts (a rather interesting combination, but that\u2019s what happens when it\u2019s dance and gymnastics night). Stella\u2019s fries remained untouched, and on her third helping of special sprouts, I wondered if I should make her eat her entire plate of food before I let her have\u00a0more of something else. I promptly decided against it.<\/p>\n
When she asked\u00a0Friday morning if she could take any leftover special sprouts to school for lunch, I also decided against that. No need for her to know\u00a0just yet that her peers might not love them the way\u00a0she does.<\/p>\n
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Feeding your kids “green” can be a huge challenge in unexpected ways. I have three tips that can help send them in the right direction (life changers for us, for sure):<\/p>\n
1. Make their first solid food green, something full of nutrients and flavor, like a mashed-up avocado. Both Stella and Mia loved it; the texture is super nice for babies, and\u00a0fun for their little taste buds!<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0Children love to watch something grow, something they made. Nanny Jane planted spinach and potatoes with Stella when she was just a year and a half. The first salad Stella ate with that spinach that she herself had planted, watered, watched grow, and harvested, she gobbled\u00a0up with abandon, asking for seconds.<\/p>\n
3. Always eat YOUR vegetables (you adult you). I love salads and vegetables and exclaim my love in word and deed constantly … in front of my children.<\/p>\n
What are some tips you have for getting\u00a0children to eat “green?”\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you ever had “special sprouts”? They’re actually Brussels sprouts, but if you say it fast, it sounds an awful lot like special sprouts, especially to a 6 and a 3-year-old. (Our very own Nanny Jane\u00a0calls them Barbie cabbages.) I … Continue reading