Dear President,

My name is Tarek. I am 15 years old, and I like my vegetables. Sadly it is very common that kids around the country share a dislike for these vegetables that provide us with the nutrients necessary to maintain a healthy body. As a result, more than two-thirds of adults in America are considered to be overweight, and parents are trying to find a way to sneak these power-packed greens into their kids' foods without them knowing. Little do the parents know, there are very little benefits that come from secretly feeding vegetables to children.

Kids are smarter than you think! If you try to sneak vegetables into your kids' foods, they will find out, and once they do, there are many consequences that follow. One of these would be a loss of trust between the child and the parent. It is very important when transitioning your child into eating vegetables to set an example by eating vegetables yourself. Sneaking vegetables into food makes them seem worse than they really are. Another outcome from sneaking vegetables into your kids' foods would be an even greater dislike for the vegetable hidden inside the food. This builds off of the idea that the parent is making vegetables seem worse than they really are. If they find out that their parent is hiding greens in their foods, they will refuse to eat them, whether they actually like the vegetable or not.

What are some ways that parents can get their kids to eat vegetables without forcing it? For one, everybody loves smoothies! If you teach your child that smoothies contain vegetables but still taste fruity, they will still drink smoothies, and get the servings of vegetables that they need. Another idea would be allowing the child to prepare meals with the parent and learn about all of the different vegetables and how they are used in dishes. That provides a fun way for the child to interact with vegetables that they are eventually going to have to eat, and minimizes the betrayal between the parent and the child that would be found in sneaking vegetables into kids foods.

As a 15-year-old male from Wisconsin, I ask that as a president, you find a way to incorporate vegetables into everyday meals without sneaking it in, or forcing it in.

Thank you,

Tarek Hamdan