When You Can't Trick Kids into Eating Healthy

A few years ago, Jerry Seinfeld's wife wrote a fairly popular cookbook, in which she shared her manipulative methods of getting her kids to eat healthy: hiding the good stuff inside not-so-good stuff. Scrambled eggs with cauliflower mixed in, pancakes with sweet potatoes ingeniously whipped in the batter. At first, I felt superior to her. At the time, Gavin was still munching on veggie lasagna, hummus, avocado, fruit smoothies and plain green beans with no additional prodding needed. I was SO above lying and cheating!

Overnight, it seemed to all change.

Around age 2 1/2, meals became a nightmare. Suddenly there was no more scarfing down of my veggie lasagna. Instead, he screamed for chicken nuggets and juice (which I was vehemently opposed to at that point). My easy eater became a spitter-outer faster than I could say "silken tofu."

Jessica Seinfeld? Maybe she had the right idea. Soon I was incorporating a lot of her sneakiness in my (admittedly not great) cooking. Spinach and blueberries in brownies became a favorite, as was pumpkin in mac and cheese (seriously, it's not bad).

But lately, it's gotten harder. My picky eater will be 5 soon, and he's too smart for his own good. Hiding is no longer and option, so my next option is enlisting his help in the kitchen. I'm hoping, that by having a vested interest in what's being made, he'll be more inclined to actually eat it.

Our first experiment? Kale chips.

It's a bold first try, I'll admit. Leafy green things as CHIPS? But I pulled out all the stops. I named them "Superhero Chips" and told my little Spider-Man that eating these green things would make him big and strong. No lie, right? He accompanied me to the store, reading the 'gredient list to me and even picking out his own kale. He sprinkled salt, garlic and Parmesan cheese like a pro.

After they were done, he proudly took a bite. Chewed...and spit it all out. He said "those chips made me SICK, mommy."

*sigh*

I wanted to claim victory, I wanted to have movie nights on the couch, both of us munching on bucketfuls of leafy greens. Apparently, it's not to be, at least right now. But I feel optimistic....he tried them. He was invested in the outcome. He ate ONE LEAF! There's (hopefully) hope for him yet.