Does getting kids to learn about fruit encourage eating it?

[arewenearlythereyet]

Has anyone found that getting their children to learn more about fruit encourages them to try it and maybe even enjoy it?
If you want to try and test this theory, then this month's Bayards Magazines AdventureBox Books could be of use as the latest NatureBox tells us all about oranges.

[Pangolin]

It might work. Knowledge can be power. If you have even a small yard, you also might try getting the kids to help grow some fruits and vegetables in a small garden during the growing season in your area. Raspberries and blueberries are easy, and there's nothing like a snap pea or cherry tomato right off the vine (tomatoes are a piece of cake to grow), some peppers can be very easy to work with as well. Don't forget too, that there are many types of fruits that aren't available in the grocery stores, but which might grow in your yard - my dad grows a variety of things that most people would never think of: gooseberries, currants, goomie berries, concord grapes, a variety of bush cherries, as well as apricots and figs. You can buy kits with mushroom spores to grow different kinds of mushrooms if you are into them.

My grandma use to love to help us start lima bean plants even though we would never eat them - it was especially cool to put the lima beans up against the side of a clear glass jar with a wet paper towel and watch the plant sprout and grow roots, a stem and leaves out of the little bean.

I would say that in general, the fewer super-sweetened things a kid eats, the easier it will be for them to taste the sugars in the fruit (and vegetables) making them more interesting. The more overly sugared and salted foods are that you eat, the harder it is for your tastebuds to pick up the nuances of the fresh foods that are out there - they just desensitize your tastebuds. You could try starting with canned fruit, which is often packed in light syrup, making the fruits taste sweeter, and then move back towards fresh ones.

(Don't get me wrong though - I ate tons of candy and potato chips as a kid, and I still liked fruits and vegetables! It does seem that some parents are so apprehensive that their kids won't eat something, that it causes the apprehension in the kid, who then, in turn, refuses to eat particular foods. The more of those things they see you eating and enjoying, the more likely they are to try them and like them too.)

[gfbentomom]

If you have even a small yard, you also might try getting the kids to help grow some fruits and vegetables in a small garden during the growing season in your area. Raspberries and blueberries are easy, and there's nothing like a snap pea or cherry tomato right off the vine (tomatoes are a piece of cake to grow), some peppers can be very easy to work with as well.

It does seem that some parents are so apprehensive that their kids won't eat something, that it causes the apprehension in the kid, who then, in turn, refuses to eat particular foods. The more of those things they see you eating and enjoying, the more likely they are to try them and like them too.)

So true. I've said it before but my kiddo won't touch tomatoes, tomato sauce etc. (only BBQ sauce, which is often far from tomato flavored). But, he'll eat the cherry tomatoes from our garden(not the store!) I don't do anything special, just cut them back once in a while as they grow like weeds! He enjoys watching them grow and sometimes checks to ones that are ready to pick and goes out to pick. They smell and taste different right off the vine and he recognized that early on I think. He enjoyed watching the zucchini grow this past summer(first time for us successfully growing it) and by the end of the summer was into harvesting them. Still not interested in eating them but end of the season I made some zucchini muffins, grating them finely, incuding other flavors that he was already liked and was familiar with and he liked them!

[arewenearlythereyet]

That's really interesting to hear!
I work for a publishing house which is how I know that this month's edition of AdventureBox Books tells kids all about oranges, but I'm also a mother of four (two girls/two boys) with ages that range from 4-12 and sometimes it feels like the hardest thing in the world to get them to eat their fruit and veg. I'm hoping that reading facts about oranges will encourage them to eat them. Would either of you be interested in being sent a copy of Bayard's AdventureBox Books and perhaps reviewing it? If so, PM me your details I can arrange it

In the meantime I'm definitely going to look into get my kids to plant some fruit and veg as we have a reasonable sized garden and I really like the idea that if they grow it themselves then they'll be more encouraged to eat it after.

Which fruit and veg do you recommend I should get for them to plant - what's easy to grow? I want to be careful that I don't start off with something that they need to acquire a taste for! Thanks so much for all your help!!

[Pangolin]

What grows well can depend heavily on your location, and my experience has been in central Ohio, where we are a Hardiness Zone 6. You can look up your zone and then find what kinds of plants would grow best in your area. (It’s listed in most plant and seed catalogs in the information about the seeds/plant, or on the backs of the seed packets you can buy in the spring.
Tomatoes are extremely easy to grow in my experience - as long as you water them everyday, they grow like weeds. There are a "zillion" varieties out there including red and yellow varieties that can be almost as small as currants to the enormous heirloom ones that are as big as a softball. If you don't like the acidity in the red ones, try yellow tomatoes, which have a lower acid content - I grew some last year that were about the size of grape tomatoes, pear shaped and quite good.
Green beans and snap peas were always favorites when I was a kid - both taste great right off the vine, and are pretty easy to grow. There are also Brussels sprouts - which although I'm not super excited about eating even now, have a very unique plant structure when they grow (get some plant science in there while you're at it!). Squashes like zucchini and yellow squash aren't hard to grow, but they need space to spread out on the ground - and you have to keep a watchful eye on the beetles that they tend to attract that eat the leaves up. (Actually, the beetles are kind of cute, and are definitely pretty colors and patterns!) If you or your kids like spicy things, try a variety of peppers – some are sweet, others are spicy, and they all look different from one another.
As for fruits - raspberries grow like weeds once they get established, and they like sun. Although the red ones are my dad's favorite, I really love the golden ones, and black ones can be very sweet if you leave them an extra day after they get ripe. Mmmm..... Currants are cute, and come in a few different colors, but they are very pretty - they can also become a weed, but a tasty one! Blueberries grow on a bush, and therefore don't spread like the raspberries and currants - the only thing tricky about them is that you have to get to them before the birds, which often means building a little frame out of pvc pipe and coving it with netting to keep the birds out. Strawberries are easily grown in a container, and if you are patient, and would like a longer-term experiment for your kids (and a lesson in being patient), if cared for properly the first couple years they can produce more strawberries then you’ll be able to eat!
Look for what might grow well in your hardiness zone and work from there. Also look for different plants that will put out fresh produce at different times of the summer and fall to keep the enthusiasm for seeing what’s popping up next going. After a couple summers of practice, you and your kids will be pros, and you can find more challenging or different types of things to grow.

[elenacala]

I kind of think that a combination of giving kids lots of fruits and veggies as opposed to suguary snacks and being a good example for our kids by eating lots of fruit and veggies ourselves would help kids to want to eat right. AFter all monkey see monkey do, sometimes it seems like parents (not all parents) want thier kids to eat healthy but don't do so themselves, and one thing I know about kids is that they follow by example. One other thing I think is, if they learn to like veggies and fruits when they are little, I think they will like them and eat moreof them throughout thier whole life. So its important to start young so ti builds the right kind of foundation for kids. anyway thats my two cents, but learnign about and growing fruit and veggies couldn't hurt.

[arewenearlythereyet]

great thanks for all the suggestions and to everyone who has contributed to this thread.