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Should You Hide Vegetables in Your Child’s Meals?

May 31, 2022 Plant-Based Juniors Leave a Comment

Should you hide vegetables in your child’s meals? Is hiding vegetables a good idea? Here are our thoughts on how hiding vegetables can backfire and what to do instead.

child sitting in a cart covering his eyes while parent offers two fresh bell peppers in a grocery store


Think it’s a good idea to hide veggies in your kid’s food? Think again!

We know hiding vegetables is something that many of the parents today grew up experiencing in their own childhood. We also know that it’s an easier way to get out kids to actually put vegetables in their mouths.

But at the end of the day, setting our children up for nutritional success – and teaching them healthy eating habits that will serve them well for life – depends on transparent exposure to all sorts of foods, including those they don’t like (yet).

Why hiding vegetables is a bad idea

Here are three reasons why we don’t recommend regularly hiding your child’s veggies.

1. It’s a temporary solution

While sneaking veggies into food provides a short-term solution to your eating issues (it gets nutrients into picky kids’ bodies), it does nothing for the long-term goal of getting them to enjoy these foods.

Kids need repeated exposure to develop acceptance for foods they don’t innately enjoy. By adding veggies into food in an unrecognizable form they miss the opportunity to experience tastes, textures, shapes, and colors.

2. It erodes trust

Kids need to trust that you have their best interest in mind. If they find out you’re misleading them, they’ll be even less likely to try new foods in the future.

3. It demonizes veggies

Hiding veggies tell kids that veggies are a bad food that people have to be tricked into eating. We want veggies to be celebrated!

toddler wearing chef outfit making homemade pizza with vegetables

What to do instead

Okay, so hiding vegetables is out. What do you do now? Our solution: be honest, be creative, and be in it for the long haul!

You can totally add veggies to food in interesting ways, like putting riced cauliflower in oatmeal or pureeing carrots into tomato sauce, but be honest about it. If your kids ask, tell them what’s in the food, or better yet, have them help you make it!

Continue to also expose them to veggies in their “natural” state, i.e. a stalk of broccoli vs. finely chopped broccoli mixed into macaroni. They make shun it every time, but continuing to provide it on the plate builds exposure, which will pay off in the long run.

Offer opportunities for food play! Allowing your child to play with their food in intentional ways can help take away the pressure from eating and make it a more welcoming, low-stress situation in which they’re more likely to try something they may not normally. Need inspiration? See these food play ideas.

Should you hide vegetables in your child’s meals? We don’t recommend it. Instead, try exposing your child to vegetables head-on using transparency, inclusion, and opportunities for food play.

Chime In: What do you think about hiding vegetables with your kids? Have you ever done it?

If you found this post helpful, we think you should read these too:

  • How to Prevent a Hangry Toddler
  • 6 Plant-Based Dips and Sauces for Kids
  • Do’s & Don’ts of Intuitive Eating for Kids
  • What to Do When Your Child Won’t Eat Dinner

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  • Meet the moms behind the blog.

    Plant-Based Juniors (PBJs), is a community for parents and educators interested in properly implementing plant-based diets for children. Created by Alexandra Caspero MA, RDN and Whitney English MS, RDN – both moms and registered dietitian nutritionists – PBJs is dedicated to filling the gap in credible pediatric nutrition information for plant-based infants and children.

    PBJs promotes an all-inclusive “predominantly plant-based” approach, supporting all families from vegan to vegetarian to flexitarian. Basically, if parents want to get more plants on the plate, PBJs wants to help!

     

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    Our book, The Plant-Based Baby & Toddler is where we translate nutrition information in a practical non-anxiety-inducing way and provide everything you need to raise healthy, conscious kids.

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    • About
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      • Batch Cook Ebook
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