My son refuses to eat vegetables. He will eat corn and peas and that is about it. Have to admit that his dad is really picky and this is where he has learned it. I am noticing that he is now liking only high carbohydrate type foods and this is concerning me. My other 2 older kids ate everything and this one is stubborn and would rather go to bed w/out eating than even try one bite of a new vegetable or meal. Doesnt do sandwiches either.Only loves grill cheese, PBJ and tuna occcassionally.
My 5 year old likes cheddar cheese, so when I serve steamed brocoli, I ask her if she wants some grated cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top and that makes it fun for her.
She also loves sauce, so I'll offer her different sauce to put on the veges and she likes that too.
My daughter was (and still is) a very picky eater. I found that melting cheese on the veggies usually got her to eat them with no problem. Well...after I convinced her to try it at least once. That's our rule. You must try at least one bite of each thing on your plate. If they don't like it, fine, at least they tried it. But I've found that 9 times out of 10 the child will find that they like it.
The other thing I've done for my daughter is to serve her uncooked veggie sticks, like carrots, zucchini, cucumbers or celery, with something she can dip them in. Usually it's Ranch Dressing, but sometimes it's Peanut Butter or Cream Cheese or some other kind of dressing. I usually give her a couple choices and let her pick at least one.
You'll find that if you make the child feel like he or she is involved with the decision making process, that child will almost always eat without a fuss.
Hope this helps!
I may be duplicating suggestions here, but the book, Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld is great. The whole basis is sneaking veggies into normal food and its amazing how it works.
Oh P.,
You have to be sneaky!! I make chocolate -chocolate chip pancakes the my kids fight over and finish very fast. However, what they don't know is it is loaded with wheat germ, whole wheat flour, SPINACH, and blueberries. I have two cookbooks and love them. Basically puree the veggies and then toss them in your recipes. Deceiptfully Delicious, and Sneaky Chef. I believe are the titles. I sneak carrot and yam puree's in spaghetti sauce for the added nutrition and NO ONE can detect it. Not even my husband. I love the puree method. Try it out. I can even send you some recipes from the book if you want. From breakfast, dinner, and desserts!! Like puddings, and cakes.
I offer a huge variety - I love veggies, so will prepare 2 or 3 (sometimes 4!) different ones with our meals. There will be at least one veggie that is "acceptable". lol I've heard it takes 9 times of seeing a food before a child will even consider trying it, so keep trying! I also offer cut up raw veggies & dips (hummus, peanut butter, guacamole) when everyone is starving around 4pm, before dinner. Works great! When I have leftover veggies like steamed cauliflower, I'll puree it and add it to other dishes like tomato sauce, twice-baked potatoes, etc., and no one can tell! Pureed veggies are fairly undetectable in most recipes and even fruit smoothies. Sweet potatoes pureed in hot chocolate is a favorite.
Taste buds change as children grow. When my daughter was a baby, she ate many things she does not eat now. She's beginning to be more adventurous finally!
Chrystal's answer below was perfect. That is what I did with both of my boys and know they love veggies! Try all the dips..make it fun with the stories. Good luck
I have a 5-yr.-old son who will pretty much eat all vegetables. We are vegetarians, so veggies are very much a part of our every day diet. He loves to eat raw carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, celery, tomatoes, Nori (seaweed), brocolli, etc. His absolute favorite everytime is steamed brocolli. Basically, I offer veggies every day and don't offer high-carb snacks with little nutritional value. We just don't keep that stuff in the house. Maybe your son will get used to vegetables the more he is exposed to them. If he is hungry and not full on ohter stuff, he may be more incluned to try them. I also drizzle olive oil, tamari (soy sauce, no MSG), and nutritional yeast on most of the steamed veggies. Sometimes he will eat an entire bowl of this! I think it is also important to tell our kids, "This is what is for dinner and you are not going to eat something else because this is what I have prepared." Don't let him have treats if he won't eat his veggies. Good Luck!
I don't have a 5 year old but I had a really terrific piece of advice from my daughter's mother-in-law. She would feed her children the vegetables first, while the children were hungry. Then she would feed them the rest of the meal. You can't really fill up on vegetables and that way they will eat them. It will be hard at first because you haven't been doing it that way. You could also try some fresh vegetables or vegetable casseroles. It is okay to have some ranch dressing to dip fresh vegetables in. It can often make them more palatable. Just keep presenting the vegetables and have your son see you eating them. More variety is better. If you make this a big issue, he will become more difficult. Keep presenting them and they do eventually come to eat them. Good luck.
I have that book and it is AMAZING ! ! ! ! ! My son is the same as your when it comes to veggies. I mak him his fod wait till he's done eating then tell him the veggies he ate, he's always shocked. All you do is puree vegies and add them into normal daily foods.
Hello,
I've never actually read it but I heard about a recipe book by Jessica Seinfelds called "Deceptively Delicious". It gives you good ideas on how to sneak vegetables into your childs meals. Good Luck
A couple ideas, try things that can be dipped like carrots with ranch, apples with peanut butter. Another thing I do is hide the veggies. I shred carrots in the food processor and put them in meatloaf, and I just read last night that if you boil cauliflower in with your potatoes then when you mash them you can sneak cauliflower in that way. Or we try little "white lies". My daughter thiks brocolli makes her jump high, so after she is done she jumps and we tell her how high she jumped. Or my son really likes the ninja turtles, so he will eat turtle salad, and green beans if we call them turtle necks.
Good luck!
