The Best Way to Bribe a Toddler to Eat Vegetables

Getting a toddler to eat anything other than chicken nuggets and french fries can seem like a superhuman, almost mythical parenting feat. Of course, you know they should be eating a healthier, more balanced diet, which all the parenting “experts” on Instagram assure is entirely possible, right up to the point where you encounter a toddler who refuses to touch anything. or. not fried and not covered with cheese.

When it comes to a battle between a toddler and green vegetables, the toddler always wins, especially on those days when it takes over an hour to get him to put his pants on.

Study Shows Non-Food Rewards Make Toddlers Eat More Vegetables

Times like these call for desperate measures, and as a recent study from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands shows, bribing your little one to eat vegetables is a strategy that can work.

In this experiment, which was recently presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity, the researchers tested whether a fun, non-food reward, like a sticker or a small toy, would get toddlers to eat more of a variety of vegetables. To begin with, the kids in a number of kindergartens in the Netherlands were divided into three groups. One group was offered different vegetables and was rewarded whenever they tasted them, one group was offered different vegetables but not rewarded, while the third group was not given vegetables and was not rewarded. reward.

At the end of the experiment, toddlers who were offered a fun, non-nutritive reward were more likely to eat more of a variety of vegetables compared to toddlers who received no reward or were not exposed to a variety of entertainment. vegetables.

“Rewarding toddlers for tasting vegetables also appears to increase their desire to try different vegetables,” researcher Britt van Belkom, who led the study, said in a press release . “The type of reward, however, is very important – it should be entertainment, not food.”

Positive reinforcement works

“Babies respond very well to positive reinforcement,” says Beth Oller , a family doctor in Plainville, Kansas. It can be stickers, claps, and verbal praise. Depending on your little one, offering a sticker or a small toy can help them try more vegetables.

However, as Oller warns, “it could set a precedent you don’t want to continue.” One potential downside is that your toddler may begin to expect rewards from other activities, such as sitting at a table while eating.

Still, “every parent knows their child best,” Oller said. “If a sticker gets a child to try something new, it might not have a big downside.”

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