Mom Tip Monday: Grocery Shopping with Pre-Schoolers

::Grocery Shopping with Pre-Schoolers::

I've been trying something new at the grocery lately. When in the produce section, I let my 4 year old pick out any fruit or veggie he would like. I started doing this to encourage him to make healthy choices and try new things, have a love for fruits and veggies, and be involved in what we eat as a family. Recently he choose mushrooms. Not a normal veggie in our house, and I wasn't sure he'd even tasted them before, but I went with it. [This is the point of what I was trying to do, so far so good.] So later that week we made home made pizzas and he added them to his. He even asked to eat them raw, right out of the fridge. [Mission accomplished!!]

Some weeks it's standards like pears or grapes. Other weeks he gets more curious. Either way, it was a divine inspiration that I think we'll stick with for years to come. He is more interested in eating the foods he's picked out, and I'm happy to serve him [and the rest of us] something fresh. 

Other things to do in the produce section at your grocery or market:

• Play i-Spy
• Point out shapes and colors
• Practice counting skills
• Compare and contrast sizes and shapes
• Reinforce letter sounds when you're picking something up to put in your basket
• Talk about farming, gardening, the location the item is from...
• Make up silly stories about fruit and veggies

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Mom Tips is a new column we are going to try out on Mondays. If you have any suggestions, or tips you would like to share, let me know. Us mom's can use all the help we can get!