 If you want for kids broccoli or a chocolate bar, which do you think they'd pick? A study showed 4 out of 5 picked the chocolate. Okay, but how proud are the parents of the kids that chose the broccoli right now? But what if you put an Elmo sticker on the broccoli? When an Elmo sticker was placed on the broccoli, it was half-and-half. 50% chose the broccoli. It works in schools, too. Where SpongeBob sang Got Beans and 37% more boys, 70% more girls chose green beans. One little sign, and kids reading significantly more vegetables. We saw how we should cut up, or ideally cut out, cookies to minimize consumption. How should we cut up vegetables to maximize consumption? Which do you think 9 to 12-year-olds ate more of? Whole slices, sticks, or stars? And do they like them bigger or smaller? The results were strikingly clear. Turns out shape was very influential. Children clearly preferred having their vegetables cut. Stars were like the most. What about slices versus sticks? No difference. And size only mattered for the whole chunk, where the ordinary size was preferred to the miniature versions. If they're still not biting, you can apply the same trick I used to get our dog to eat stuff she doesn't like. Dip it in peanut butter. Pairing vegetables with peanut butter may successfully increase intake even in vegetable-resistant children. Offering a salad dressing dip may help as well. Then there's always the hidden vegetable strategy. In the present study, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, squash, and zucchini were covertly added to familiar entrees, so the appearance, flavor, and texture of the original recipes were maintained like puréeing vegetables into a pasta sauce, and families weren't the wiser. This shouldn't be the only way, though. Covertly incorporating vegetables into foods can have a beneficial effect on children's vegetable intake, but it should not be the only way the vegetables are served to children. Because the liking of an originally disliked vegetable can be increased through repeated exposure, and you can use several strategies to ensure that children experience different forms of vegetables, especially whole vegetables, because they're not going to live at home forever. Worse comes to worse, you can make a video game. A public-private partnership, the Quest to Lava Mountain, where you can apparently harvest kale and gain knowledge about the health benefits of eating healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grain foods, detrimental effects of eating junk. What may be the best way, though, to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables? This study looked at all sorts of parenting styles. Should you pressure them? Should you lay off? And what was the most important factor? The results indicated that the most important predictor of children's fruit consumption was, wait for it, the parent's consumption, and pretty much the same with vegetables. If we want our kids to eat healthy, we have to model healthy behavior. The researchers conclude that in order to try to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption, parents should be guided to improve their own darn diet first.