You get back home after dropping the kids off at school and as you clear the breakfast dishes, you find it jammed under the plate again – the chewable multivitamin. Whether they hide it, spit it out or put it in their pocket, the multivitamin that you bought four different brands of in hopes that they’ll like it, remains uneaten.
It’s time to get sneaky
Whether your kids know it or not, there are other ways to take supplements, but you’ll never tell. Here are some ways to get creative.
1. Put a little shake in their oats
Whether your kids like oatmeal or other hot cereals, it’s easy to boost their nutritional value by adding a scoop of Kids Multi. The smooth vanilla flavour makes hot cereals extra tasty while your unsuspecting kids get a powerful start to their day with a full spectrum of vitamins, minerals, greens and antioxidants. They may already love the taste of ND Shake when you add it to smoothies so they will no doubt love it in their breakfast food, too.
2. Balance gut bacteria through their drinking water
All kids take a water bottle to school and are encouraged to drink throughout the day, so why not add a small scoop of powdered probiotics for their gut health as well?
Simply add the recommended dosage and shake to blend. Your kids will never know the probiotics are hard at work getting rid of the bad bugs in their intestines!
And while you’re being sneaky sneaky with their water bottle, throw a packet of magnesium in there once in a while, too. Let the fizz calm down before you put the lid on for best results. If your kids ask why their water tastes orangey, tell them it’s a new kind of pop?!
3. Mix in chewable vitamins with the fruit juice version
They may or may not notice the difference but mixing in one gummy vitamin with the regular kind will surely go down in no time. You can always tell your kids that the vitamin version is the “magic” chewable and might give them special powers if they eat it. I call it a mom’s license to fib for her kid’s own good.
Speaking of vitamins, a pill crusher can be your best friend. It’s how I got vitamins and pills into my kids and even our dog for that matter!
Most vitamins are heat sensitive so don’t add the powdered bits to any warm or hot foods. Instead, throw the crushed multivitamins into smoothies, puddings, the jam for their toast, or anything that’s mixable and a dark colour so they won’t notice. If all else fails, multivitamins in liquid forms exist too and should be even easier to sneak into foods.
4. Homeopathics
Starting your kids on homeopathic remedies at a young age will help get them used to the process and the taste and they can be a great (natural) way to help out when your kids are feeling under the weather or health issues arise. If your kids are older you can try things like counting to five as you drop the remedy in their mouth or let them squeeze the dropper in themselves, being careful not to touch any parts of their mouths with it to avoid bacteria build up on the dropper. Homeopathic remedies make for a great addition to any family’s medicine cabinet.
Getting your kids to take supplements they don’t want to can be frustrating, to say the least. The trick is to either mask the taste or make it fun. You can lead by example, too. If your kids see that you are taking care of your health, they might want to be just like mom or dad and try it themselves as well.
