Rest assured, getting your kids excited about consuming bone broth is much easier when you’re talking about Brodo. For one it’s delicious on its own, but it can also be delicious addition to a wide range of dishes.
Whether your kids already have healthy eating habits or not, we’re confident they’ll love Brodo right away or grow to love it!
Be honest where your kids are at with their food choices
Some kids will happily chow down on raw kale while others will eat nothing but chicken nuggets (at least willingly!). It can be frustrating to try to feed a picky eater because you want them to get all the nutrition they need to grow up strong and healthy. The good news is Brodo can be easily incorporated into even the most child-friendly foods without them even noticing!
Talk to your kids about their food
In our society, we don’t always learn about where out food comes from. This can cause a disconnection, leading to kids not understand why highly processed foods are any different from whole and traditional foods. And sometimes when they aren’t taught in the right way, it can sound gross to them. If you didn’t know it already, carrots coming from dirt and meat coming from animals could be a tough swallow (no pun intended).
If your kids aren’t quite excited about the concept of drinking broth from bones, try using words like “soup” or simply, “broth.” Most kids are familiar with these words and have positive associations with them.
Once your kids start eating and enjoying bone broth, it could be a good teachable moment about using all parts of the animal by making broth from the bones. Most kids get excited about environmental causes, so let them know they’re doing something good for the planet by consuming bone broth.
Choose flavors they’re already familiar with
Our base bone broths (e.g. Signature Hearth, Organic Chicken, and Grassfed Beef) are great options for kids because they’re likely familiar with those flavors already. While some kids may enjoy our flavored broths like Deeply Rooted and Spicy Nonna, they may be a tougher sell for picky eaters.
Take the concept even further by choosing recipes that they already love such as classic chicken noodle soup, beef & barley soup, and butternut squash soup.
Get your kids involved
Kids can feel frustrated when they feel like they have no control over what they eat. If you’re able to, ask your kids if they’d like dish A or dish B for dinner. If you have multiple kids, let them take turns choosing the meal. Sometimes we adults only have time and energy to prepare a meal that’s already in the plan, but here are some ideas on how to create involvement:
- Offer leftovers from a meal they enjoyed
- Ask them to help plan the menu for the week
- Freeze soups and other freezable meals that you can reheat quickly in case your kids won’t eat what you’re making that night
- Ask them to help you with simple cooking tasks
- Allow them to pass on one of the side dishes that night (although never a bad idea to ask them to try just one bite)
Set an example for your kids
Believe it or not, your kids look up to you! If they see you eating chips instead of a meal for lunch, they will think that’s normal and follow in your footsteps.
At Brodo we try to make it easy to eat delicious and healthy meals that come together in no time. If you have Brodo and some vegetables on hand, a meal is just a few minutes away. Check out our “No Recipe Recipe” for inspiration.
Even better, vocalize the enjoyment of your food. Thank whoever prepared it, say things like “yum” and “this is delicious!” and so on. If your kids aren’t already eating what you’re eating, they will start to feel the FOMO when you do it.
Remember, “do as I say, not as I do” only goes so far!
Eat Together
This is a tough one for many people in our society today. Many adults work long hours and many kids have extracurricular activities that take up a lot of their time. Sometimes we need to schedule that family time in if it doesn’t happen automatically.
If you’re like us, many of our fondest memories revolve around the dinner table with our families. Most of us aren’t a famous chef like Marco, but that’s ok! You will bring your kids a lot of joy by creating delicious smells in the kitchen and then spending time with them. Eating together also makes setting an example, getting their opinions, and dialogue about food easy and natural.
Choose Family-Friendly Recipes
“Family-friendly” can come in all different forms depending on the foods you and your kids enjoy. And if your kids only eat chicken nuggets with mac n’ cheese, maybe this tip isn’t the easiest to follow! But the point is to try to make recipes that are on the simple side at least most of the time – so everyone can enjoy them. This will blur the lines between “kids foods” vs. “adult foods” and normalize trying new things.
Soups are an obvious choice, but here are some other easy bone broth recipes:
- Mashed potatoes and gravy
- Cooking your grains in Brodo – simply replace the water with bone broth when cooking rice, quinoa, farro, and more.
- Homemade “Instant Noodles”
Be Patient!
As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s not going to be a fast journey going from chicken nuggets-only to sipping chicken bone broth. But if you stick with it, you’ll likely be rewarded with fewer struggles and more happy memories at the dinner table.
