You can already see it, can’t you?  That girl is sassy!  Imagine what I have to deal with in getting her to take her vitamins.

I’ve been on the Reliv Now for Kids plan with my own kids for the last two months.  At first, it was difficult to get them to drink the stuff because I chose the route of honesty.  I guess every parent has a learning lesson, and this one was mine (amongst many others of course).  I have always had this policy to be as honest with my children as absolutely possible.  I always figured there was no reason to lie about things, and I find my kids process information really well.  In fact, I’ve always been upfront with them about nutrition and the “whys-behind” not being able to eat certain things, or why we choose to eat different things than their friends might, for example.  So when I decided to put them on Reliv Now for Kids, I thought, I’d go the honesty route since they’ve handled such situations in the past with ease.

Boy, was I wrong.

We fought every morning about the Reliv…it tasted funny, it made their stomachs hurt, they were going to throw up, blah blah blah.  I tried hiding it in everything you could imagine…maple syrup, ice cream, chocolate milk, oatmeal…and every time they would figure it out.  We were about to leave for a week’s vacation over Spring Break and they were completely distracted.  So, I dropped the can of Reliv into my diaper bag, never mentioned it once and away we went.  Well, every morning, guess what?  They had their Reliv.  They had it in smoothies, strawberry milk, oatmeal and maple syrup.  I sprinkled it over their cereal, added it to their hot choc, and hid it in their applesauce.  They never once caught on to my little game. As my grandma always used to say, “A little white lie never hurt anyone.” Then, the day before we left, they spotted the can in the pantry.  And that was the end of my hiding game.  They became even sharper and more attuned to what I was serving them.  My daughter straight out refused to eat or drink anything I made for her.  My husband had to start making her breakfast, and he was no good at the “Hide the Reliv” game.  I gave them an ultimatum.  They either had to drink the Reliv, or they had to take a plethora of vitamins.  My son, of course, being the “quickest way from A to B” kind of thinker, chose the Reliv.  My daughter, on the other hand, refused.  She also refused the vitamins.

I am not kidding when I say I have probably dropped about $200 on vitamins for my daughter to try in the last two weeks.  It is seriously ridiculous.  On one hand, I want her to take the Omega 3s, DHA, ARA, Immunity, Vitamin A,D,K…blah blah blah…on the other hand, reality: most of it tastes like crap and I wouldn’t eat it either.  Since we don’t have the money to throw around on vitamins, I figured my readers may not as well.  To save you time and money, I thought I would go through our list to save you the aggravation.

Save Nemo...he causes fishy-burps!

1.  Disney Omega-3 + Vitamin D3 gummies: We bough these because, naturally, they have little Nemo swimming on the label.  Cute. Fun. Disney…so gross, I’m surprised she actually took these the longest. Immediately when you open up the jar, they smell rank of fish oil, which a person at Whole Foods recently told me, by the time most of the fish oils are processed into these vitamins, they are rancid…that is why you burp up “fish”.  Gross.

Fish Free-Strawberry Flavor

2.  The Original Gummy Vitamin- Yummi Bears by Hero:  These are actually not made with fish oil.  They are “Fish Free Omega 3*6*9.  They, too, are also disgusting.  Cute little gummy bears by the brand we all know and love as gummy bear makers.  They are pink and strawberry flavored, and I almost gagged trying to eat one.

Fizzy Orange Drink

3.  Nordic Naturals-omega-3 effervescent: Now we are getting somewhere…at least with my son.  He had no problem drinking the orange fizzy drink, which is just a packet of powder added to water.  Stella, on the other hand, refused.  I even came home with the chewable soft gels, that have a lemon flavor to them.  Nope.  Wouldn’t take them.

Flax Seed Oil and other good things...

4.  Good ole’ Flax Seed Oil: I purchased the Whole Foods 360 brand in their refrigerator section.  After my frustration of her refusal to take any of the above, I forced her, yes, forced her, to drink a teaspoon of Flax Seed Oil.  Result: She vomitted her breakfast of oatmeal all over the kitchen floor, to which my husband, who was witness to all of this said, “Um, yeah, you’re going to clean up that mess.”  Wasn’t pretty.

So after spending around $200 on tried and failed Omega-3 products, I resorted back to hiding them in her foods.  On a side note, Whole Foods does have a policy that they will take back opened vitamins and refund your money, if you have your receipt, or store credit without one.  After cleaning up Stella’s breakfast off the floor, and managing to not produce more myself, it occurred to me that honesty may not be the best policy.  In fact, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her…it will make her healthier!  Here is what I have been doing for the last two weeks, and so far, has been working like a charm.

• She loves oatmeal: I add Flax Seed Oil and squirt the Omega 3 soft gels into her oatmeal, and stir it up.  She has no idea it’s in there, and tells me every morning how much she LOVES my oatmeal!
• She loves salad: What’s even better is that she will only eat oil and vinegar on her salad…add a little Flax Seed and Omega 3 to her dressing, and voila!
• She loves maple syrup: Whenever I can, I still sprinkle the Reliv Now for Kids in her maple syrup and mix it up really well so she cannot taste it.

She might think she has outsmarted me in this struggle, and that’s OK.  As long as she keeps giving me ways to sneak it into her food, it keeps me challenged. And guess what?  I, myself, have been popping an Omega-3 once a day, and I’ve started to notice the energy and focus I get from it.  As long as I’m taking my Omega-3s, there is no way she won’t be taking hers!