Bribery: The new way to get kids to eat their veggies?

We all know how difficult it can be to get your little ones to clear their plates, especially when it comes to the green stuff -- vegetables.




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Getting your little ones to clear their plate might be made easier with a little incentive, according to a BYU study.

A new study by Brigham Young University found that offering kids little prizes such as a nickel, quarter, or raffle ticket encouraged the youngins to increase their veggie intake by as much as 80 percent.




The bribery also decreased the waste of untouched vegetables by roughly 33 percent. Not too shabby!




The study was conducted by both BYU and Cornell University and consisted of observation of children at three different Utah-based schools.




So, what do you think? Is it okay to teach kids that if they eat their veggies they get a little something in return?




I don’t see why not – we get tax deductions for donating to charity, and it’s proven that adults are more likely to lose weight if they get a little extra compensation themselves.




Is the sad, sad truth about our society that we value money over our health?




The additional fruits and veggies in our kids’ healthier school lunches amounts to an additional $5.4 million in cost and prior to these added handouts the BYU study found that 70 percent of the good stuff was getting thrown in the garbage – untouched!




That’s roughly $3.8 million in the trash per day.