Eating Vegetables

Try some v8 drinks in small cans to get her to have her vegetables . or try with the little helpers food in jar at walmarts or any other store.

I'm one of the only people I know without a vegetable problem.
My kids eat piles of them, including large salads. The only thing I can think of is that they see ME doing it. I lead by example because I love vegetables and eat abnormally large bowls of them (1 small bag to me is 1 1/2 servings whereas the bag says 4). They see you do it but not in an obvious way, and they emulate it. Carrots and peas, green beans and salads seem to be easier than broccoli & spinach though.
Good luck.

my middle child (4 1/2yrs) is the hardest one to get to eat veggies. i started sneaking them in their spaghetti sauce, like pureed squash or even pieces of frozen spinach. i just keep trying to get him to try one piece of veggies on his plate and it works sometimes. i think that if i keep putting it on his plate, he will eventually eat them again. so far, my youngest is our veggie eater and will try all of them.
anyways, to answer your question, maybe she does understand and is just trying to control the situation. i would just keep putting them on her plate. maybe lessening the pressure will get her to try it?
several times i cooked frozen veggies (like peas and carrots) in with their mac & cheese. my 4 1/2 yr old will pick around the veggies he sees but i'm sure he has eaten some that hide.....anyways, hope this helps.....

I'm sorry this is so long! Lots of ideas to tell you!

It is not too early to teach her to eat her veggies this way. My doctor said "If they can send a message, they can receive a message". She clearly doesn't want to eat certain things but you are doing the right thing. If you set a different standard for your daughter your son will soon catch on and try to put up a fuss.

I work very hard to have healthy snacks available. At your kids age you could put a muffin tin with healthy snacks out on your table. Put carrots, blueberries, broccoli, grape tomatoes, grapes, etc. Use different colors and as Dr. William Sears says "Let him graze" A child will run by and pick up something, eat it and go on. You will know they are getting good nutrition. His website is https://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030800.asp When it is time to eat your meal put a small amount of food on her plate and encourage her to eat it. We never made mealtime a battle zone. We always used dessert as an incentive to eat. When my girls ate a sufficient amount they could have dessert. Okay, I admit we vocally enjoyed our desserts more than we normally would have!:) I tried to have healthy desserts too, like strawberries with whip cream or fresh pineapple but occasionally we also had the chocolate cake. When everyone is finished eating all food is put away. If she is hungry you can reheat her meal for her later. My 10 yr old is going through yet another phase of this. We make her sit at the table until we are all finished then we, again, enjoy our dessert. She tried something new last night, Yippe!

As a side note :We never allow our girls to say "I don't like that or I hate that" I am from the south and I think that is rude and disrespectful of whoever prepared the meal. We have our girls say, "thank you, but I don't care for this" but they can only say that after they have tried the item. That little phrase really pays off when you are in someone elses home with new and different foods.

You can also sneak veggies into foods. You can have zucchini bread or even grate up zucchini or yellow squash and add it to spaghetti sauce. My 10 yr old doesn't like beans in chili, so I puree them when I put them in the pot as the main base with tomatoes etc. Her sister doesn't like ground beef so I just pull a little of the main mixture into a small pot and puree the meat so she can't see it. You have to work at this but you can do it.

You can also google "Sneaking veggies into kids diets" for more ideas. But you do want your daughter to try whatever you give her on her plate. Keep up the hard work, it will pay off!

I was so lucky with my son(11)! He has always been the best eater and since I love veggies this pleased me! My 5 year old daughter was a nightmare with veggies but when her 3 year old sister was eating them she decided she couldn't be shown up by her younger sister!
Her favorite thing is spinach salad with croutons and some italian dressing and they all love veggies and light dips. I do recall when all three of my kids were that age texture was an issue. SO maybe try veggies cooked then raw and see if there is a preference.

Keep trying it and give her a choice of two different veggies for dinner. Maybe if she chooses you'll have a better chance. "Because she picked it out". Our daughter is 2-1/2 and we found that she loves Edamame, or for her we call them "big green peas". And for some odd reason she loves pepper, and salt. So we add a little to her veggies.
We tried to make it somewhat fun. And usually she leaves her veggies until the end of her meal and it becomes a battle sometimes. We've gone as far as asking her if she needs to go to bed now. She says yes sometimes, but the stipulation is that everything gets taken out of the bed. Less than 5 minutes later she was screaming that she would eat her dinner.

hi J., im 74 and raised 10 children, these are still babiesto me,i used to think that my children had to eat everything on there plate or they didnt get dessert, well my mind has changed.im raising a granddaughter i adopted at birth really bio granddaughter, she went thru stage of not eating certain foods she got to eating only apples , my older son thought it was awful but the dr said let her eat all she wants, well shes almost 18 now and wants mostly fast foods. let yur children eat what they want , dont force anything on them, they will eat when there hungry, yu can sneak veges in a driinkand they wouldnt know it,use blender put in raw veges and add some strawberrys to it.also baby fruit is great mixed in milk to drink.these children will grow out of it . ty M.

Your daughter is ready to try a veggie. We started this with my son just shortly after he turned two and it took a few weeks, but he understood that we must try a food before we say we don't want or like it. Our life is much more peaceful at dinner now that the expectations are laid out on the table. start small and work your way up to a couple of bites. we were just hoping for one pea or one bite of carrot. the cheering and praising was the best part. he would be so proud of his one pea that he would eat another just to ge the fun claps. best of luck...you can do it!

I personally think that they understand that concept at that age. With my son when he was a bit younger I started telling him he needs to take 2 or 5 bites (whatever I thought was appropriate) I would hold up my fingers and as he would take a bite I would put down a finger and tell him how many he had left to take. I normally could get him to take the amount of bites that I wanted him to by doing that. Other times I had to get more creative like tickling his feet to get him to open his mouth and then shovel some of the food in. Normally if I could get him to take a bit or two he would want to take a few more bites on his own (now realizing that it isn't so bad!). Beyond telling her "one bite" try raw veggies with ranch or lettuce with ranch dressing (or some other dressing she seems to like). My son loves raw carrots and celery with a bit of ranch to dip them in vs cooked veggies. Also, surprisingly he likes things like cucumbers in french dressing and salad. Which those are great ways to eat veggies too! - one more thing- another moms response made me think of this. I still give my two year old baby food. Not that it is his only source of food but as a desert or a treat or even in his oatmeal in the morning. He loves the pureed fruit and I think its a great way to get fruit (and its better than regular apple sauce) in him especially they have some different flavors that we don't normally buy fresh. Just a suggestion.

If you say have the veggies first and then you can have what you want, or then you can have dessert, you are only reinforcing the concept that veggies are not good. She will not grow up and eat them on her own, which is what we all really want them to do! I agree with setting a good example and offering a variety and sneaking them in, but i strongly disagree with the cheering and bribing. She is very smart at that age. Have you heard of the book Deceptively Delicious? Great book and there are others, with recipes that will allow you to sneak veggies in without her knowing and eventually, if you keep offering them and setting a good example by eating them yourself, they will change how they view vegetables.

Ahh, the veggie argument! I'm not sure that 25 months is old enough to truly understand "take a bite of this and you can have more of that", but it's worth repeating just so she gets used to the idea of it. I often used to hide veggies in with scrambled eggs and my boys would eat them with no problem. Just throw a handful of frozen veggies in when you are scrambling the eggs. Good luck!

Yes, she is old enough to understand the concept that you describe in your letter.
Do "one bite for one bite".
It is a good way to go.
If they do not eat their meal, then no snacks in between.
And always healthy snacks.

I think two year olds can understand that concept, but I also know that they are very stubborn.

My son does not like vegetables either - he is two. As a baby, he ate everything. I made homemade baby food & he used to eat all kinds of vegetables, pure & simple. I think around 12 months (I can't really remember), he started to refuse vegetables. So, this is what I do. 1) I offer him all the fruit he will eat. 2) I give him the "Gummy Bears" whole foods & also the vitamin & mineral formula. 3) I sneak veggies in... grated zuchini in pancakes, grated yellow squash in grilled cheese, chopped celery & carrots in tuna salad, pureed squash in mac & cheese, juiced veggies in fruit smoothies, etc. 4) I've recently found out that if he helps me with the food prep, he is more inclined to try to eat it. So, we also now serve dinner family style & he helps to get everyone's plate filled. Lately he has been serving himself veggies. He doesn't eat them yet - but they're on his plate!

All in all, I really believe that if we model good eating habits, our kids will eventually make good choices on their own. For now, we're trying the positive approach & making sure that he's getting the needed nutrition. We'll see how it ends up. Funny thing to note...when I was pregnant with him, I had no interest in veggies & had to force myself to eat them...go figure!

Good luck & let me know if you come up with any other good ideas!

Hi J.- I have an 18 month old daughter named Ella- She is an awewsome eater of all foods. I was fortunate to marry a chef who cooks for her. One trick you might try is pureeing a good selection of veggies and blending them into her food, she'll never know. Kids go through eating fazes, I wouldn't worry to much. Jessica Seinfield (Jerry's wife) has a very good cook book about pureeing- I highly reccomend it! Hope I could help a bit- Have a great day! L.

add cheese , stick them in a casserole , be non chalant but most important eat them yourself. I have three children who not only eat broccolli, but spinach and beets and corn as well. My last child is really pickey and turns his nose up at broccoli, but loves corn, and tomatoes, but not happy about green beans. I have to tell you something funny about this... we get excited when we get beets on our salad at a local rest. the waitress thinks were nuts when we ask why one salad has beets and the next doesnt. no wonder kids are confused. i think a whole generation skipped their veges . we grow veges in our garden and they eat alot of sweet corn and fresh tomatoes in the summer months they are served with every dinner. you can grow a flower put of cherry tomatoes and they might want to eat one of those. best of luck to you

I think that you will not be able to pick the exact moment that she will understand it, but she probably understands more than you think. I think it is a good idea, especially if you are doing with your son. She will watch him too. I think that you are also doing the right thing by offering it to her and letting her decide. Try having her pick them out at the grocery store, or wash them, mix them etc. Get her involved. Try bright colored veggies, raw and cooked and be patient. Get story books about veggies or cook books.
I would warn against letting her dip in dressing, using butter or cheese. These are so fatty and don't allow her to appreciate the true taste of veggies.