Hard to feed vegetables to toddlers

@cuddiluk (1523)
Philippines
January 28, 2007 11:35pm CST
I'm a mom who always getting mad to my child forcing them to eat veges. I don't want them to be used to eat in daily routine varieties of meat dishes. Though they eat fruits like banana, apple,orange and mango but I think its not enough. Milk and bread, vitamins too. I don't want them to grow up hating to eat veges. What will I do to them to convince them to eat veges?
14 people like this
42 responses
@rsa101 (37952)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
Well don't force them to eat veggies they would be more and more discouraged to eat one. One of the ways that we usually do is making the veggies smaller in size like mincing it or slicing it to a much smaller bits that they would hardly noticed mixed with the food. When they can comprehend and understand try telling stories about how veggies can help them grow big and strong. Me and my son do struggle convincing him to eat but then I try to make stories about his favourite cartoon characters how they become strong by eating vegetables or something like that. Make believe stories could sometimes help. :D
@MySpot (2600)
• United States
29 Jan 07
Cool idea! Not sure it will work, depending on their dislike of the vegetable and the child's age. I wanted to try spinach when I was little so I'd be strong like Popeye... until I actually tried it! Bugs Bunny is pretty cool smackin' on his carrot too ; )
@cuddiluk (1523)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
really? I'll try to take you advice. Stories from their favorite cartoon, I think this would help me a lot. Thanks.
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Jan 07
That's a great idea!! That would work really well on 3-5 year olds!!! I'm going to try that! Thank you!
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
When you cook your viands, add vegetables cut in such a manner that they appear so small they just cling to the meat or fish. Your child will just eat not bothering what are those which cling to the meat. They are now taking their share of veggies. Since they are fond of eating fruits, encourage them to take a good amount as these are just about as healthy as taking veggies.
2 people like this
@cuddiluk (1523)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
Yeah, I cutted them into small pieces but they still hardly noticed it. They eliminate the pieces as soon as they vividly observed. When I'm feeding them I tried to covered the veggies with rice on the spoon. So, they can't hardly find. But still, they detected when its inside their mouth. They tried it removed or dislodging it.
• Canada
29 Jan 07
Maybe you should get one of those juicers that you make drinks with... that's one way you can do it! Remember only one fruit a day!
1 person likes this
@joshdale08 (2320)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
i make my kids lumpia shanghai. though it's deep-fried, it's loaded with carrots, potatoes, cabbage, bell pepper, water chestnut, bamboo shoots, etc. they don't know it coz the vegies are finely chopped and mixed together with ground pork then wrapped in lumpia wrapper. they can eat this together with either sweet and sour sauce or just plain catsup. they love it!
@cuddiluk (1523)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
really? I should try this for them. Thank you.
@mimpi1911 (25464)
• India
29 Jan 07
kids, generally, donot like vegetables, while its very important to feed them with more and more of those. i have seen my sister making a soup of all vegetables. he would boil vegetables, smash them and treat it with a generous amount of butter, pepper and powders and sometimes with lentils (manchurian, chinese, indian). this is very yummy and even i used to drink with them the same stuff. trust me, besides being tasty its nutritious. some other time she would lay table with most beautiful of salad decorations and my neices would jump to table immediately seeing their favourite faces on plates. all the best
2 people like this
@cuddiluk (1523)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
Really? I should have try this one. Make some recipe to me please. I need to know on how to cook this. Thank you for this great input.
• United States
29 Jan 07
In one of my discussions I was given some great ideas on how to get my daughter to eat things and the one that worked out the best for us was to make it look really good to the child. Try to be creative with setting them up on the plate. Another one that has worked out for us is letting my little one help me fix the veggies, we have been letting her pick out which one she would like for dinner and once I open the can I let her put it in the pan to cook. I only give her a small amount and she seems to eat them when she helps to cook them. I have learned though that the neater you make their food look the more likely they are to eat it. I have also used bribery, I will make a dessert that I know that she likes and tell her that if she eats all of her veggies then she can have the dessert but if she does not then she will not get any dessert. Good Luck
@cuddiluk (1523)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
This is a good idea too. To be decorative and creative on their plate. I'm sure they will enjoy seeing those funny faces of decorated veggies. I hope this will work it out. Thank you.
@mari61960 (4893)
• United States
29 Jan 07
I get my nephew to eat them by making them fun. I give him carrots and pepper strips to dunk in ranch dressing. Little tomatoes with toothpicks for dipping. Make your own pizza, make faces out of peppers,broccoli for eys,mushrooms etc. Even green beans can be dipped in something. You just have to get creative. You can put all kinds of veggies in spaghetti sauce and if you puree them the kids will have no idea they are even there. Tricks and disguises work for me.
@cuddiluk (1523)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
Yeah. I need to put some tricks on their plate. Thank you for this wonderful idea.
@icequeen (2840)
• Canada
29 Jan 07
I used to add a cheese sauce to certain vegetables and I found my child like to eat them better. Veggies like brocolli and cauliflower are great for this....
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Jan 07
My children are real big on fallowing mommy so every time I want them to try some thing I will take a bite first and off the same spoon I will give them a nasty this gets them to at least try it and once they have tried it if they still don't like it then I don't force them to eat it and I will wait about a week and do the same thing again with the same food and some times the kids have changed their minds and will eat it.
1 person likes this
• Lampe, Missouri
29 Jan 07
you should never fore your kids to eat them. i try to get my kids to eat them and i put them on there plate every meal. my oldest will eat corn some times but that is about it but i use the if you want ice cream ect later you have to eat this. my 2nd kid will eat a can of green beans or corn by herself if you let her. and the 3rd kid is off and on likes corn some times and all. but if you fore them i beleave that will make them hate it when they get older.
1 person likes this
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
30 Jan 07
The ranch dressing is a good idea but you can also try fried rice with the tiny cubed carrots and peas. Another trick I used was melted cheese, generally if kids can make a mess eating something, they'll enjoy it and nothing is messier than melted cheese! Good luck!
1 person likes this
• United States
30 Jan 07
My two year is very finicky. I think it's better to let her eat what she wants to eat. I'm not suggesting junk food, but healthy foods that she enjoys. I think all my children hated veggies but as they got older they learned to enjoy them.
@kabella50 (309)
• United States
29 Jan 07
give them an cold v-8 i love it.
1 person likes this
@cuddiluk (1523)
• Philippines
29 Jan 07
cold V-8? What is this? No idea at all.
• India
29 Jan 07
generally children hate vegetables.To makea full stop u have do special dishes for them,which they can enjoy deliciciously..........
1 person likes this
@rlshaw (871)
• United States
29 Jan 07
I'm pretty lucky my daughter like most everything.. Do they lilke cheese? IF so maybe try putting cheese on them or mixing them in with something they like... Good luck :)
1 person likes this
@riyasam (16556)
• India
29 Jan 07
have you heard of the saying LIKE PARENTS,LIKE CHILDREN.if not today,tomorrow they will imitate parents.
1 person likes this
@Stephanie5 (2946)
• United States
29 Jan 07
You started them on fruits before veggies, didn't you? I did that with my 4th child and then he didn't want to eat veggies either. They get that taste for "sweet" and then veggies aren't very apealing to them :-( Just keep trying. You will eventually find something they like and they will eventually aquire the taste for them if you keep offering it. Good Luck!
• United States
29 Jan 07
I am having the exact same problem my 3 year-old is a very picky eater and the closest i have gotten him to veggies was french fries.lol. I do try to give him fruit juices every now and then not sure if this counts. I know it is very hard even for the older children.
1 person likes this
@XxAngelxX (2830)
• Canada
29 Jan 07
Perhaps you could try offering smaller servings of veggies. You are right, it's very important for them to eat those as well. Or if they are old enough, maybe you could let them choose which veggies to have with their meals. If they are a part of the decision process, maybe they will want to eat them more often then. Good luck.
1 person likes this
@pd_davies (149)
• India
29 Jan 07
my advice is eat together and tell the children that dad and mom are also eating and don't force them because children tend to get stubborn earlier my child also didn't like to eat too many veggies but i made a point that there are no subtitutes and you have to eat this just a little amount and taste it first, sometimes i call his friends and give both of them meals and he eats, children tend to learn in their own company and i am also sending him to a school where he gets his meal and this has surely helped.
1 person likes this
• India
29 Jan 07
No need to worry in this. Vegetables are not necessary for life. They contain more roughage so it prevents constipation and they are also helpful in prevention of colon cancer. Its ok if they dont want to eat dont force them. May be they will start LIKING VEGETABLES LATER ON. BYE
1 person likes this