Vegetables!

Hello!

Do you find it hard to make children eat vegetables?
Which ones give you the hardest time?
Do you have any tips to share? I vote for cheese! :p

Don't have a problem with my little ones as they eat anything and everything! But I have found that with my 22 month old, she'll have dip with her cut up raw veggies. She loves it!

I have to say I am also lucky. No picky eaters here : ) Casseroles worked really well when I did have some though. and yes, cheese works wonders.

Have found no issues with veggies until the child reaches 2 -2 1/2 and then even some that loved veggies start to turn against them. Mostly I just continue to serve the same foods and while I put less veggies on the plate I do not compensate with more of the foods they like so if htey are hungry they do eat the veggies. It is generally just a phase and like most of them passes by the time they are 3 - 3 1/2. At which time they are more open to explanation and not liking the fact that those that finish their veggies have their plates removed and dessert served first.

Have you used the sneaky chef or the other book by Jerry Seinfeld's wife? There are supposedly some good ideas in there to hide things.

We grow a big garden in the summer. The kids love to pick vegetables for with lunch or snack. I also find that if you are consistent with offering, kids will enjoy veggies!

When my own kids were little I went a little more out of my way to ensure nutrition than I do now. Also "back then" attitudes were that it was the mother's (caregiver's) role to get the veggies into them or risk being labelled a "bad" parent. For the most part now the attitude is that our role is to serve the nutritious foods, limit or eliminate the non nutritous, and then it is up to the child to decide to eat or not. Society attitudes will change again just as they do in all aspects of parenting. But for now I just find caregivers tolerate so much more than we did years ago and get less respect and compensation for doing it that it really doesn't encourage us to go out of our way to do what even the children's own parents can't be bothered doing.

I will sneak extra vegetables into the kids meals, but I am also a big believer in introducing the kids to different things. How do the children know that a carrot tasts good if they think they have never eaten one (refering to hiding all veggies in food). I usually serve two different veg choices at lunch and they must eat at least one. They always do sometimes i say " You can be done when you eat your....." or "would you like to eat ........... or .................?"