Guest Writer: How to Get Kids to Drink Healthy Green Smoothies
This post was contributed with permission by Caitlin Smith. She welcomes your feedback at CaitlinSmith1117 at gmail.com.
How to Get Kids to Drink Healthy Green Smoothies
If you’ve ever read your kids the book Green Eggs and Ham you know how much resistance can go into eating something green. Yet there are many ways you can get your kids to love green, healthy smoothies, helping them get their vitamins and grow up strong. Here are some tips on selling the healthy stuff to kids.
- Call it something fun. Kids will eat just about anything if it appears to be cool, gross or fun in some way and the green color of these healthy smoothies can work well with this. Try naming your smoothies after your child’s favorite cartoons or making them sound silly.
- Fine-tune them. If there are particular things you know your kids like or hate tailor your smoothies to meet their discerning needs. This doesn’t mean reducing the nutritional content, as sometimes just making them “slushier” will be enough to sell the idea on your kids.
- Sneak the good stuff in. Many kids won’t instantly be in love with the idea of smoothies. The trick here can be to sneak in the good stuff in at first and slowly build up the level as your kids adjust to eating healthy.
- Use kid-friendly containers. Crazy straws, fun glasses and even cup-clinging toys can make getting a smoothie so much fun that kids forget it’s good for them.
- Add a good amount of fruit. For many kids, the sweetness of the fruit will mask any of the veggies and greens they may not find as favorable. Plus, if you pick the right fruits they can add loads of vitamins as well.
- Make it a treat. Even if you want your kids to drink smoothies pretty regularly, making them a healthy form of dessert can improve your chances of getting your kids to beg to drink them.
- Drink them yourself. Leading by example is a great philosophy to follow and if you want to influence your kids to drink green smoothies what better way than showing them how much you enjoy them yourself?
There are lots of ways to get your kids with you on the healthy bandwagon, just have a little patience and be inventive and you’ll soon make green smoothies a family affair.
Posted in: Green Smoothies
