The pre-dinner standoff over vegetables is a rite of passage for almost every parent, full of bargaining, bribery, and plates pushed away untouched. Jennifer Garner says she found a much simpler way around it, and it does not involve a single argument.

Garner is not just guessing here either. She co-founded the kids food brand Once Upon a Farm, which means thinking about what actually gets children to eat has become part of her job, not just her home life.

Here is the small habit she says quietly does the trick every time.

The Countertop Trick

Garner’s method has nothing to do with what ends up on the dinner plate itself. Instead, she leaves cut up vegetables sitting out on the counter while she cooks, right when everyone in the house is circling the kitchen hungry and looking for a snack.

There is no announcement and no pressure to eat them, she just leaves the vegetables within easy reach. She told Today’s Parent that “eventually the sugar snap peas and carrots and bell peppers, they go.”

A Mom Who Practices What She Preaches

This is not a one off tip for Garner, it fits into a much bigger food philosophy. Through Once Upon a Farm, she has pushed for baby and kid snacks made without added sugar or artificial ingredients, some of it grown on her own family farm in Oklahoma.

At home, she has said her three kids regularly help in the kitchen too, taking turns cooking, setting the table, and washing the dishes. Being part of making the meal, she has found, tends to make kids more willing to actually try it.

It is a small shift, but it turns vegetables into a snack option rather than a fight at the table. Sometimes the easiest way to get a picky eater to eat their vegetables is to simply stop asking them to.