Little anti-green monsters

DIET

Getting children to take their daily vegetables is up to the parents.

Parental stress over kids' fussy eating habits is widespread, but such behaviour is normal, a leading Australian paediatrician said recently.

Sydney-based Dr Michael Kohn said that in fact parents are often confused over what and how much to put on a child's plate. The portion might be more than average, and that could be a reason why your child often doesn't finish his or her meal.

Allowing kids to snack frequently also plays a part in making them more picky at mealtimes. One eats when the body demands food, says Sujata Jairam, former nutritionist and now AGM, operations, for Apollo Hospitals. But after generous doses of junk, the kid will not be hungry enough to eat whatever's on the table.

However, even keeping in mind that children can be fussy eaters, the too-few or too-small servings of vegetables kids "agree" to consume these days is worrying.

Perhaps parents have gone a little too light on the green reiteration? Your parents may not have tried to stuff questionable looking veggies down your throat, but they are likely to have been firm about you eating them.

Quite possibly you grew up loving both the veggies and the parents. So it may be alarming to have a friend rattle off a hatelist of relatively decent ones, "Brinjal, lady's finger, rajma, cabbage..." Hmm. So on what list do lauki, tori, kaddu and beetroot figure?

There's another point to consider. Presumably in an effort to keep with the times and be more liberal, parents decide it's okay to let the child pick what he or she wants to eat. It's also the easy way out, given parental time shortage and low patience levels.

We've evidently moved on from the days when parents were overly strict and disciplinarian. A freer rein has been given and table rules are held in less regard. But at the end of the day, children still need the same veggies they did 20 years ago.

"How a child is brought up leads largely to eating habits later. If parents do not reinforce what has to be eaten, children will obviously grow up to be fussy. Kids don't have any taste in the early years, so they can be easily be moulded into eating the right things," says Jairam.

Cooked well, most things can be tasty! "Make food attractive. Put plenty of veggie toppings on a pizza, add all the healthy elements in pav bhaji," she says.