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How to Help Your Child Learn to Eat Carrots
October 2021
Author:
Shemar Hawkins
Coauthors:
Johane Filemon, MS, RDN, CLT
Alexandria Delozier, PHD
Laura Petix, M.S. OTR/L
Erinn Jacobi, M.S. OTR/L
Stefanie Kain, B.S. M.Ed
About Kids Eat in Color
Created by experts, Kids Eat in Color is the leading resource for families seeking evidence-based information and strategies on child nutrition and feeding.
As an Amazon Associate, Kids Eat in Color® earns from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links.
Author:
Shemar Hawkins
Coauthors:
Johane Filemon, MS, RDN, CLT
Alexandria Delozier, PHD
Laura Petix, M.S. OTR/L
Erinn Jacobi, M.S. OTR/L
Stefanie Kain, B.S. M.Ed
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Keisha takes one look at her plate, notices the baked chicken and rice with a side of carrots, and pushes it away. This would mark her second encounter with carrots. She did not like them. Her parents were making another attempt to get her to eat carrots.
“They look like fingers! They are loud and it’s scary!” Keisha says to her mom.
“You’re just being dramatic,” her mom says. “Give them a try. You didn’t try them last time, but I won’t budge this time.” Her mom pushes the plate back towards Keisha.
Keisha grabs the plate and flips it over.
Does this situation sound familiar? Keisha is showing signs of picky eating. Like many parents, her mom has been growing increasingly frustrated. We know this feeling and we want to help!
Read on to learn how to help teach your child to eat carrots. This article covers:
Carrots contain potassium. Potassium is important in blood pressure regulation by helping your child’s blood flow. Blood flow is important for moving nutrients throughout the body.
Carrots also provide protective effects on immune function, immune health and cardiovascular health via its vitamin B6 content. A child’s immune system is developing and vitamin B6 is a great way to assist with proper function.
Considering the wide variety of health benefits that carrots offer children, getting kids and toddlers to eat carrots is a good thing!
Carrots can be integrated into a lot of meals and snacks. An easy way to incorporate carrots into your child’s regular diet can include serving raw carrots on a vegetable platter or tossing chopped carrots into a salad. These options also make it easy for a child to remove them if they want to.
Another fun way to serve carrots is with your child’s favorite dip, like hummus or ranch dressing. These combinations can be easily packaged to enjoy when on the go.
If your child is really on edge about giving a food a try, consider serving micro portions. Micro portions are really small portions, similar to the size of a nickel or dime. This is meant to take away some of the intimidation a child may feel with a larger portion size. Micro portions also help avoid food waste because you’ll only serve more when your child asks for more.
What we do NOT recommend is the use of pressure to get a child to eat. Pressure tends to create more issues and problems at the table because it can quickly turn a neutral situation into an emotionally charged situation.
Parents can inflict pressure in different ways that seem harmless. Here are some examples that count as pressure:
“It’s not that much food.”
“If you take that food off your plate you are in big trouble!”
“If you only push the food around on your plate, you wont get dessert.”
Please note: Carrots can be a choking hazard, so cut into matchstick-sized pieces for kids under age 4.
How to Talk About Carrots to Help Your Child Try Them
How you approach talking about food impacts your child’s view of food. When talking about food to your child, we recommend the use of neutral words. Neutral words describe the food as it is, without judgement and without invoking a particular emotion towards the food being discussed. Neutral words describe the characteristics of the food.
Here are some neutral words you can use when explaining carrots to kids:
Orange
Long
Smooth
Wet (baby carrots)
Skinny
Crunchy
Hard/firm
This use of neutral words is important because picky eaters have a tendency to use negative words and phrases when talking about food. You may have heard your fussy eater say things such as “that looks funny” or “that smells weird.” When picky eaters use negative language, it can prevent them from trying new foods. To get your child to speak more objectively about food, try modeling this strategy for them. Modeling is the process of showing a child a behavior that you want them to mirror or model themselves.
Keisha may not have known other words to describe the carrots being served to her. This would be a great opportunity for her mother to try to incorporate new words. Her mother could have said, “Carrots are orange and they have a big, crunchy sound when you bite into them!”
Please note, changing how a child talks about food is one of many steps involved in reversing picky eating. The process takes practice, patience and repetition.
How to Help Your Child Understand What Carrots Do in Their Body
Introducing a new food, like carrots, into your child’s diet can be difficult. We recommend talking to your child about what the food does in their bodies, so they can understand that there’s a connection between the food they eat and how their bodies feel.
A child may respond better to new or unfamiliar foods if they have a little more understanding of why it’s on the plate. You can encourage the child to ask questions about the new food as well.
Here are some age-appropriate things you can say to help your child learn about what carrots do in their body:
Age 0-3: Orange foods like carrots help your body grow strong.
Age 3-5: Carrots help our blood move inside our body and go where it is needed.
Age 6-11: Carrots have potassium, which helps our hearts pump nutrients all over our bodies through our blood.
Age 12-18: Carrots have potassium, which helps our heart pump blood through our arteries and veins at appropriate rates.
Keisha’s mom could have explained, “Carrots help our heart pump blood around inside our bodies.”
Carrot Food Play Activity
We recommend using food play when possible to introduce your child to a new food. Food activities that have a no-pressure approach can be a great way to expose your child to a new food.
Food activities can also work to desensitize your child to a new food. Desensitization means that you take small steps to introduce a food to a child so that over time they can become more familiar with how the food may feel, smell, or even look like. It typically would involve tasting as the last stages of it, but all the steps leading to tasting (which could include looking at a food, touching the food and smelling the food) are very important. In practice, desensitization allows for food that could be very strong smelling to be a little less offensive with more and more exposures over time.
Here is a great food activity you can enjoy together!
Carrot Stick Figures (Ages 5+)
Materials
Baby carrots
Toothpicks (with tips shaved down for safety)
Steps
Steam carrots to soften them up.
Build carrot stick figures with the toothpicks, or spell out words with the carrots. Be creative and have fun!
Thanks for being a part of our community that’s teaching kids to eat more foods!
References
Ahmad, T., Cawood, M., Iqbal, Q., Ariño, A., Batool, A., Tariq, R., Azam, M., & Akhtar, S. (2019). Phytochemicals in Daucus carota and Their Health Benefits-Review Article. Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 8(9), 424. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8090424.
Baylin, Jonathan. “Behavioral Epigenetics and Attachment: The New Science of Trust and Mistrust.” The Neuropsychotherapist 1, no. 3 (2013): 68–79. https://doi.org/10.12744/tnpt(3)068-079.
Benson, Jeryl D., Carol S. Parke, Casey Gannon, and Diane Muñoz. “A Retrospective Analysis of the Sequential Oral Sensory Feeding Approach in Children with Feeding Difficulties.” Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention 6, no. 4 (2013): 289–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/19411243.2013.860758.
Berk, Laura E. Development Through the Lifespan. 7th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc., 2018.
Bodison, Stefanie C., and L. Diane Parham. “Specific Sensory Techniques and Sensory Environmental Modifications for Children and Youth with Sensory Integration Difficulties: A Systematic Review.” American Journal of Occupational Therapy 72, no. 1 (December 2017). https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2018.029413.
Case-Smith, Jane, and Jane Clifford O’Brien. Occupational Therapy for Children. Maryland Heights, MO: Mosby/Elsevier, 2010.
Cooke, L. “The Importance of Exposure for Healthy Eating in Childhood: A Review.” Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 20, no. 4 (2007): 294–301. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-277x.2007.00804.x.
Copple, Carol, and Sue Bredekamp. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs: Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8. 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2008.
Hagan, Joseph F., Judith S. Shaw, and Paula M. Duncan, eds. Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents (Pocket Guide). 4th ed. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics, 2017. https://brightfutures.aap.org/Bright%20Futures%20Documents/BF4_POCKETGUIDE.pdf.
Kramer, Paula, Jim Hinojosa, and Tsu-Hsin Howe. Frames of Reference for Pediatric Occupational Therapy. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer, 2020.
Lindeboom G. A. (1984). Geschichtliche Meilensteine in der Behandlung der Nachtblindheit [Historical milestones in the treatment of night blindness]. Clio medica (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 19(1-2), 40–49.
Min, Kyoung-Chul, and Yoo-Im Choi. “Review of Effectiveness Sensory Integration Therapy on Feeding and Oral Function of Children Focus on Single-Subject Research Design.” Journal of Korean Society of Occupational Therapy 29, no. 1 (2021): 101–13. https://doi.org/10.14519/kjot.2021.29.1.08.
Papalia, Diane E., Ruth Duskin Feldman, and Sally Wendkos Olds. Human Development. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009.
Parham, L. Diane, Gloria Frolek Clark, Renee Watling, and Roseann Schaaf. “Occupational Therapy Interventions for Children and Youth with Challenges in Sensory Integration and Sensory Processing: A Clinic-Based Practice Case Example.” American Journal of Occupational Therapy 73, no. 1 (January 2019). https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2019.731002.
Roley, Smith Susanne, Erna I. Blanche, and Roseann C. Schaaf. Understanding the Nature of Sensory Integration with Diverse Populations. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed, 2007.Rosenfeld, H., Martens, M. And Lea, P. (1984). Variations In Sensory And Physical Characteristics In Carrots (Daucus Carota L.). Acta Hortic. 163, 63-70 Doi: 10.17660/Actahortic.1984.163.6 Https://Doi.Org/10.17660/Actahortic.1984.163.6.
About Kids Eat in Color
Created by experts, Kids Eat in Color is the leading resource for families seeking evidence-based information and strategies on child nutrition and feeding.
Shemar O. Hawkins is the Child Nutrition Fellow at Kids Eat in Color. He reads and synthesizes scientific literature and creates research briefs on child nutrition and guides to help parents and caregivers feed their picky eaters. He is currently working on becoming a Registered Dietitian- Nutrition at Texas State University.
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Keisha takes one look at her plate, notices the baked chicken and rice with a side of carrots, and pushes it away. This would mark her second encounter with carrots. She did not like them. Her parents were making another attempt to get her to eat carrots.
“They look like fingers! They are loud and it’s scary!” Keisha says to her mom.
“You’re just being dramatic,” her mom says. “Give them a try. You didn’t try them last time, but I won’t budge this time.” Her mom pushes the plate back towards Keisha.
Keisha grabs the plate and flips it over.
Does this situation sound familiar? Keisha is showing signs of picky eating. Like many parents, her mom has been growing increasingly frustrated. We know this feeling and we want to help!
Read on to learn how to help teach your child to eat carrots. This article covers:
Related: Picky eating is tricky. Need help? Get even more info about preventing picky eating.
The Benefits of Carrots for Kids
Carrots contain potassium. Potassium is important in blood pressure regulation by helping your child’s blood flow. Blood flow is important for moving nutrients throughout the body.
Carrots also provide protective effects on immune function, immune health and cardiovascular health via its vitamin B6 content. A child’s immune system is developing and vitamin B6 is a great way to assist with proper function.
Considering the wide variety of health benefits that carrots offer children, getting kids and toddlers to eat carrots is a good thing!
Related: Join BetterBites – the best selling course for the families of picky eaters.
How to Serve Carrots to Picky Eaters
Carrots can be integrated into a lot of meals and snacks. An easy way to incorporate carrots into your child’s regular diet can include serving raw carrots on a vegetable platter or tossing chopped carrots into a salad. These options also make it easy for a child to remove them if they want to.
Another fun way to serve carrots is with your child’s favorite dip, like hummus or ranch dressing. These combinations can be easily packaged to enjoy when on the go.
If your child is really on edge about giving a food a try, consider serving micro portions. Micro portions are really small portions, similar to the size of a nickel or dime. This is meant to take away some of the intimidation a child may feel with a larger portion size. Micro portions also help avoid food waste because you’ll only serve more when your child asks for more.
What we do NOT recommend is the use of pressure to get a child to eat. Pressure tends to create more issues and problems at the table because it can quickly turn a neutral situation into an emotionally charged situation.
Parents can inflict pressure in different ways that seem harmless. Here are some examples that count as pressure:
“It’s not that much food.”
“If you take that food off your plate you are in big trouble!”
“If you only push the food around on your plate, you wont get dessert.”
Please note: Carrots can be a choking hazard, so cut into matchstick-sized pieces for kids under age 4.
Related: Need recipes with carrots? Try Real Easy Weekdays: The Meal Plan for Busy Families.
How to Talk About Carrots to Help Your Child Try Them
How you approach talking about food impacts your child’s view of food. When talking about food to your child, we recommend the use of neutral words. Neutral words describe the food as it is, without judgement and without invoking a particular emotion towards the food being discussed. Neutral words describe the characteristics of the food.
Here are some neutral words you can use when explaining carrots to kids:
This use of neutral words is important because picky eaters have a tendency to use negative words and phrases when talking about food. You may have heard your fussy eater say things such as “that looks funny” or “that smells weird.” When picky eaters use negative language, it can prevent them from trying new foods. To get your child to speak more objectively about food, try modeling this strategy for them. Modeling is the process of showing a child a behavior that you want them to mirror or model themselves.
Keisha may not have known other words to describe the carrots being served to her. This would be a great opportunity for her mother to try to incorporate new words. Her mother could have said, “Carrots are orange and they have a big, crunchy sound when you bite into them!”
Please note, changing how a child talks about food is one of many steps involved in reversing picky eating. The process takes practice, patience and repetition.
Related: Get our free picky eater guide, From Stress to Success: 4 Ways to Help Your Child Eat Better Without Losing Your Mind.
How to Help Your Child Understand What Carrots Do in Their Body
Introducing a new food, like carrots, into your child’s diet can be difficult. We recommend talking to your child about what the food does in their bodies, so they can understand that there’s a connection between the food they eat and how their bodies feel.
A child may respond better to new or unfamiliar foods if they have a little more understanding of why it’s on the plate. You can encourage the child to ask questions about the new food as well.
Here are some age-appropriate things you can say to help your child learn about what carrots do in their body:
Age 0-3: Orange foods like carrots help your body grow strong.
Age 3-5: Carrots help our blood move inside our body and go where it is needed.
Age 6-11: Carrots have potassium, which helps our hearts pump nutrients all over our bodies through our blood.
Age 12-18: Carrots have potassium, which helps our heart pump blood through our arteries and veins at appropriate rates.
Keisha’s mom could have explained, “Carrots help our heart pump blood around inside our bodies.”
Carrot Food Play Activity
We recommend using food play when possible to introduce your child to a new food. Food activities that have a no-pressure approach can be a great way to expose your child to a new food.
Food activities can also work to desensitize your child to a new food. Desensitization means that you take small steps to introduce a food to a child so that over time they can become more familiar with how the food may feel, smell, or even look like. It typically would involve tasting as the last stages of it, but all the steps leading to tasting (which could include looking at a food, touching the food and smelling the food) are very important. In practice, desensitization allows for food that could be very strong smelling to be a little less offensive with more and more exposures over time.
Here is a great food activity you can enjoy together!
Carrot Stick Figures (Ages 5+)
Materials
Steps
Thanks for being a part of our community that’s teaching kids to eat more foods!
References
Ahmad, T., Cawood, M., Iqbal, Q., Ariño, A., Batool, A., Tariq, R., Azam, M., & Akhtar, S. (2019). Phytochemicals in Daucus carota and Their Health Benefits-Review Article. Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 8(9), 424. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8090424.
Baylin, Jonathan. “Behavioral Epigenetics and Attachment: The New Science of Trust and Mistrust.” The Neuropsychotherapist 1, no. 3 (2013): 68–79. https://doi.org/10.12744/tnpt(3)068-079.
Benson, Jeryl D., Carol S. Parke, Casey Gannon, and Diane Muñoz. “A Retrospective Analysis of the Sequential Oral Sensory Feeding Approach in Children with Feeding Difficulties.” Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention 6, no. 4 (2013): 289–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/19411243.2013.860758.
Berk, Laura E. Development Through the Lifespan. 7th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc., 2018.
Bodison, Stefanie C., and L. Diane Parham. “Specific Sensory Techniques and Sensory Environmental Modifications for Children and Youth with Sensory Integration Difficulties: A Systematic Review.” American Journal of Occupational Therapy 72, no. 1 (December 2017). https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2018.029413.
Case-Smith, Jane, and Jane Clifford O’Brien. Occupational Therapy for Children. Maryland Heights, MO: Mosby/Elsevier, 2010.
Cooke, L. “The Importance of Exposure for Healthy Eating in Childhood: A Review.” Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 20, no. 4 (2007): 294–301. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-277x.2007.00804.x.
Copple, Carol, and Sue Bredekamp. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs: Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8. 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2008.
Hagan, Joseph F., Judith S. Shaw, and Paula M. Duncan, eds. Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents (Pocket Guide). 4th ed. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics, 2017. https://brightfutures.aap.org/Bright%20Futures%20Documents/BF4_POCKETGUIDE.pdf.
Kramer, Paula, Jim Hinojosa, and Tsu-Hsin Howe. Frames of Reference for Pediatric Occupational Therapy. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer, 2020.
Lindeboom G. A. (1984). Geschichtliche Meilensteine in der Behandlung der Nachtblindheit [Historical milestones in the treatment of night blindness]. Clio medica (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 19(1-2), 40–49.
Milestone Moments: Learn the Signs, Act Early. Atlanta, GA: Department of Health & Human Services USA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/parents_pdfs/MilestoneMomentsEng508.pdf.
Min, Kyoung-Chul, and Yoo-Im Choi. “Review of Effectiveness Sensory Integration Therapy on Feeding and Oral Function of Children Focus on Single-Subject Research Design.” Journal of Korean Society of Occupational Therapy 29, no. 1 (2021): 101–13. https://doi.org/10.14519/kjot.2021.29.1.08.
Papalia, Diane E., Ruth Duskin Feldman, and Sally Wendkos Olds. Human Development. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009.
Parham, L. Diane, Gloria Frolek Clark, Renee Watling, and Roseann Schaaf. “Occupational Therapy Interventions for Children and Youth with Challenges in Sensory Integration and Sensory Processing: A Clinic-Based Practice Case Example.” American Journal of Occupational Therapy 73, no. 1 (January 2019). https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2019.731002.
“Preschooler Development.” MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 2, 2021. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002013.htm.
Roley, Smith Susanne, Erna I. Blanche, and Roseann C. Schaaf. Understanding the Nature of Sensory Integration with Diverse Populations. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed, 2007.Rosenfeld, H., Martens, M. And Lea, P. (1984). Variations In Sensory And Physical Characteristics In Carrots (Daucus Carota L.). Acta Hortic. 163, 63-70 Doi: 10.17660/Actahortic.1984.163.6 Https://Doi.Org/10.17660/Actahortic.1984.163.6.