Eat your Vegetables

My daughter used to love carrot sticks with a little ranch dressing "puddle" to dip them in. She got the idea from seeing us eat them at some family get together.

Try offering lots of raw veggie options. A plate of raw carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, snow pea and/or sugar snap peas, sweet pepper slices of mixed colors, etc (basically salad without the lettuce) go well with my kids. They all count - just try to mix up the colors so they get some of each.

The only cooked veggies they will both eat are green beans.

Do you have a Handy Neighborhood/Family Hero in Childish Form running around your house?

My sons were frequently drafted as Wild Vegetable Men, eating massive servings of veggies and then snatching seconds off the plates of finicky toddlers.

The combination of emulation and possessiveness about one's dinner was very educational.

My theory is that we like what we like, even as kids. Tell them they have to try it once (that was the stipulation in my house) and if they don't like it, why make them eat it? My parents didn't force broccoli on me and I turned out ok. My brother found out he loved broccoli (the little green tree with balls as he called it).

What are the options besides veggies? Mulit vitamins for one...and don't they have good tasting drinks and crap out there that have all those vitamins and minerals kids need?

Maybe I am being a silly non-parent here but truely, I don't think you should force your kids to eat what they don't like. Would you want someone forcing you to eat liver if you couldn't stand the taste of liver?

I think it was about that age that we did the grazing thing a lot -- had empty ice cube trays with a variety of veggies and stuff in them, she (my daughter) could pick and choose among them.

I agree that the key is to keep offering options in that general category (veggies) rather than, like, standing over them and making them eat (which I don't think you [DB] were indicating). But I also really don't think that try it once and then never again will work at this age, especially in a category this broad (i.e. "vegetables" as opposed to "broccoli.") I can't tell you how many of sozlet's friends "don't eat vegetables" -- their parents let it go when their kids were in one of their (frequent and inevitable) early picky stages, and then it becomes something much more permanent, and health-endangering. I think it makes sense when they're older (over 6, maybe?) but not when they're still toddlers.

At any rate, what worked for us (with a few periods of struggle) was to a) eat veggies in front of her, and enjoy them, b) offer a lot of variety, c) offer interesting ways to eat them (like blacksmithn's dip idea, that often really helps), d) if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, and e) remember that toddler diets tend to balance out over weeks rather than days. They have food fads -- all cheese one day, all hotdogs the next, then all avocado, then all apples -- it evens out.

(That reminds me, avocado was usually a foolproof one -- when she wasn't in the mood for any other vegetable, avocado was usually acceptable.) (Now, at five, she'll eat pretty much anything.)

Yeah with my kid I don't force her to eat what she doens't want and she does pretty well with eating veggies. But in this case the lil one is a foster kid and as a "foster mom" some how I'm suppose to be "SUPER PARENT" and a child in my care should not lose weight or slow down in eating I guess. Well that is how they act when I take them in to be seen by a doctor. Even though in my opinion there are many factors for a child to slow down in a foster setting such as missing mom, being upset about the change in home and so on. Anywhooo thank you very much for your tips on this I'm gonna try and find dips that she may like. That may just work. The nurse told me to try V8 but ummm I'm thinking that is not gonna fly with her but I will try it. I'll keep checking in here for other tips thanks so much guys.

DB--

Good to hear from you. Hold your dominion.

Boil cauliflower until tender and then mash it up with butter and maybe a touch of milk, salt and maybe pepper. It tastes remarkably like mashed potatoes! Just don't let them in the kitchen while your preparing it, so they won't see where it comes from.

Horsie poop . . . my Sweetiepie tried that with me, i warn't fooled . . .

Hey, it worked for me. Next time, maybe leave out the horse poop.

Good idea . . . that would make a big difference, for sure . . .

Gives it better color, too!

There's a V8 product called V8 Splash that comes in fruit flavors. That might go over better than the tomato based one.

http://www.v8juice.com/splash.aspx

If she's eating fruit (and I don't know if she is), are vegetables necessary? Are there nutrients that are only available in veggies?

I'm guessing there is? I told her nurse that she has no probs eating fruit I can get her to eat plenty of those and she said ok well get those veggies in. I just got back from the store with the v8 and decided to try it out on my 8 year old daughter. It's easy to get her to try stuff as she can't see it so lmbo she came home and said Oh i'm sooo thristy and i thought oh good I got some thing new for you to try, let me know what you think ok? LMBO she took a big gulp and right away her nose crinkled up and she said spaghetti juice? I told her no it's veggie juice and she says Oh they shouldn't squeeze veggies they are pretty bad on their own. Anyhow she asked if she had to drink the rest and i said no it's for the little one but wanted to see if you liked it and she said oh good luck on that and put it down. So guess I'll have to see how it goes. hehe.

DB - make sure the juice is really really cold before you serve it - you'll get less of the "spaghetti juice" effect that way.

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I'm running the fauxtatoes scam again tonight, and I'll remember your advice, blacksmithn.

I think that cauliflower puree bit needs a tad of chile pepper or paprika..

mebbe a little bit of sauteed garlic. My niece would eat anything like that from two to eight. Liked a lot of veggies from all sorts of different kinds of cultures (Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Indian, French, yadda yadda) At nine she got to be Picky.

There are veggies in salsa, tomato sauce, stir-fry and soup.

How 'bout tacos? Pizza? Stew? Chinese?

Be aware that tacos and pizza have a lot of cheese (therefore sodium and cholesterol), but you can have a light hand with the cheese and a heavier hand with veggies. If it's too sloppy, it can be eaten with a fork.

Well tried giving her fresh veggies to dip and the dip is all gone veggies however are still there. Did the V8 cold, nothing. Mixed the v8 with a lil apple juce and YAY she drank it. Hope it's enough veggies. She'll be going today to the doc so I'll be asking him. I hope so though.

Dip's gone and the veggies remain? That's too funny!