Veggie Issue

[SquirrellyMama]

I have a new dck 4 who hates veggies. The only one he'll eat willingly is corn. I have been trying to have a variety of veggies anyway, not just corn every time. It is a struggle, but I can usually get him to eat a couple carrots or 10 peas. Unfortunately it sometimes takes 40 minutes to eat them.

If I don't require him to eat at least that many, my other dck who loves veggies is starting to refuse to eat them.

How can I keep my veggie lover eating veggies and my veggie hater to start accepting them?

Kelly

[toriskids]

I use my juicer! You can add some carrots, beets, spinach, all of which are sweet, to any fruit and the children never know! I also let all my DCK help pick out their fruits and veggies to add to their "smoothies" and they all come running when I tell them its time. Plus, micronutrients are extremely beneficial, and you can pack in so many vitamins and nutrients into one juice that a child would never eat on a plate.

[AmyKidsCo]

I have the same answer I gave Country Kids - it's your job to decide what to serve, and their job to decide what to eat or not eat. The more attention you give it the more they're going to seize control and try to get a reaction from you by eating or not eating veggies. The less you care, the less reaction you have and the less fun it is for them. I ask the children to take one practice bite, but I only ask once and I don't make a big deal out of it if they don't. At the same time, I offer seconds of everything, but not thirds unless they've eaten everything. So if they don't eat veggies they get seconds on everything else, but not thirds of anything.

[Blackcat31]

I have the same answer I gave Country Kids - it's your job to decide what to serve, and their job to decide what to eat or not eat. The more attention you give it the more they're going to seize control and try to get a reaction from you by eating or not eating veggies. The less you care, the less reaction you have and the less fun it is for them. I ask the children to take one practice bite, but I only ask once and I don't make a big deal out of it if they don't. At the same time, I offer seconds of everything, but not thirds unless they've eaten everything. So if they don't eat veggies they get seconds on everything else, but not thirds of anything.

This ^^

Plus I serve my veggies first and take a looooooong tie to serve the rest.

I also offer dips and try to serve a veggie in multiple ways...

I love fresh steamed peas in the pod.
I would die (figuratively) if I had to eat peas from a can, microwaved or from frozen.

[Meyou]

This ^^

Plus I serve my veggies first and take a looooooong tie to serve the rest.

I also offer dips and try to serve a veggie in multiple ways...

I love fresh steamed peas in the pod.
I would die (figuratively) if I had to eat peas from a can, microwaved or from frozen.

This. Exactly. Right down to dying from eating peas. I swear anything but fresh peas are poison. ::

I serve veggies first, then the main (which also has veggies most of the time) and then fruit last at the very end of the meal.

I also serve veggies with 3 morning snacks a week and they are an option each afternoon. My kids get to chose part of their PM snack.

I almost always do raw veggies and always offer dip. They loooove hummus but ranch is a favorite too.

[SquirrellyMama]

As to barker, I do that. I was trying frozen peas since fresh peas weren't a go. I love fresh snap peas. I've tried broccoli in a variety of ways, beans, carrots, variety of lettuce. He hates it all. I know there have been more but can't think of them. Maybe we'll try asparagus on the grill. The kids love that.

I probably would care less if they all hated veggies. It kills me that my veggie eater is starting to refuse them.

I fed him his veggies first today. That worked better. He still didn't like them, but he wanted the rest of his food.

Kelly