Lettuce has long been a challenge for my three-year old daughter. While her seven year-old sister munches happily away on raw greens of all kinds (even spinach), our younger one would for the longest time refuse to have anything to do with them (although she loves cooked greens, like broccoli).

But we had a breakthrough recently, all due to a great product I recently discovered: Kia Robertson’s “Today I Ate a Rainbow” kits.

The kits are ingenious: a large, colorful rainbow chart that you can stick to the fridge, 4 sets of matching colored magnets (one for each of the five colors your child should be eating), and 4 “achievement” magnets (cheerful rainbows) that your child gets to use if they succeed in eating something from each of the 5 colors each day.

We started using ours a week ago. As soon as I pulled the kit out of the bag, our daughters were intrigued. Up it went on the fridge, and lots of discussion took place about who had eaten what that day. Conclusion: the only thing missing was the color green. Later, at dinner, our younger daughter took her first happy bites of salad (didn’t taste that bad, apparently, although the home-made maple syrup-sweetened salad dressing might have helped). And then she jumped up to post her rainbow for the day. She’s done it every day since, even reminding me when I’ve forgotten.

Now, our family works hard at getting our children to eat our fruits and vegetables. But even though we put a lot of effort into it, it hasn’t always been easy. Sometimes we’re just to busy or tired to remember the ‘5 fruits and veggies a day’ rule. The kits are a great reminder, and even better because they involve the kids. It’s even encouraged me to rethink our weekly family menus (and, to be honest, plan them a bit more carefully).

So, thanks Kia! There are lots of great resources and ideas on Kia’s site, so check it out!

ps When I started blogging (and discovering the amazing on-line world of foodies interested in children’s issues), Kia’s website was one of the first I came across, and she was one of the first people I reached out to. Thanks so much Kia for sending us the Rainbow Kit to review!