Kids Won't Eat Vegetables? Grow Your Own!

There are several root causes for disease and poor health. One of the big factors in becoming sick is poor nutrition. If the cells in your body are starved for particular nutrients, they will not perform well and eventually you get sick. This may manifest itself as a weakness for colds or more serious problems like cancer and diabetes.

That is why it is so important to eat whole foods, organically grown whenever possible, as organic products have a higher nutritional content.

One way to keep nutritionally sound is to eat vegetables, raw or slightly cooked is usually best. But what if your kids won't eat their vegetables?

Studies, coupled with common sense, have shown that if kids help to grow their food, they will eat it! Thus a great way to make sure your kids eat vegetables is to grow them in your own vegetable garden!

Having a vegetable garden is one of the best ways that parents can teach by doing. When Mom and Dad physically dig up the soil and form the rows and mounds for planting the seeds, children see how to actually do something.

The first couple of years of this great family project, don't expect your kids to do much of the digging. Instead get them involved with poking seeds into the soil. Instruct them in maintaining the rows and trenches while watering the garden. Kids love to mess with water. When weeds appear, show them the difference between food plants and the wild visitors. Older kids love to pull up weeds.

Eventually, some of your children will take over the garden. Don't get upset if they mess up some of the crops, just replant the area with lettuce or other quick growing vegetables.

Don't be surprised when you start seeing your children pop whole cherry tomatoes into the mouths and help make the salads! This may take a couple of growing seasons, but these miracles do occur.

A vegetable garden gives the family a sense of purpose that all can participate in. The garden provides real world experience and knowledge. Growing food helps the country. And finally, you can provide wholesome food that everyone will want to eat.

Be sure to grow your garden organically, you should never spray your family gardens with chemicals. For organic resources: Garden safely & naturally with the Arbico Organics line of organic gardening products.

For composting information. You can learn to make the world's Ultimate Natural Fertilizer without bins, turning or odor at World's Best Compost!

For Heirloom Seeds (seeds that have not been genetically altered): Rareseeds.com.

For Gardening Tips and Information, visit In-the-garden.org.