eat your vegetables
Last night our 8 year old was protesting as my husband tried to talk him into eating a couple spoonfuls of corn on his plate. “I don’t like it, I’m not gonna eat it,” he said.
Image source: pixabay
“It’s so good,” I countered, “They are like little pockets of sweetness that pop between your teeth.”
“I don’t think it tastes sweet,” said he.
“It’s like eyeballs that pop between your teeth,” offered our much more mature 10 year old. He is always willing to help in situations like this.
“Corn is delicious,” said my husband, “In other parts of the world they eat insects, I’m not asking you to eat insects, just corn.”
To which I just had to laugh, “CORN – better than eating insects!”
Just think of the potential. We could adapt this slogan to any vegetable, as in, “Broccoli – better than eating insects!” or “Cabbage – better than eating insects!” I think it’s a winner.
How do you get your kids to eat their vegetables? What slogan would you use?
38 comments on “eat your vegetables”
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The Honking Goose 
I agree with bribery!
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🙂
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I think kids come out liking what they like really, my youngest loved anything, hummus, curry, veggies, meat, strong cheese….still does. My eldest bless him, was the complete opposite, I once caught him fishing around in an unmade Pot Noodle as a teenager and asked him what he was doing, he said he was taking out the peas (of which there were probably two and the only nutritious bit of a PN). His reasoning for not eating them was because ‘they were green!’ . The best though was when one day he said to me . ‘Mum, you’ll be so proud, I ate salad today’ his girlfriend laughed, ‘he had half a ketchup soaked lettuce leaf and a sliver of tomato, in a burger’… he was 30! lol 😀
Fabulous blog by the way…only complaint is I’m supposed to be writing mine instead of reading yours 😉
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Thanks for the complaint/compliment! 😉
My kids actually eats lots and a variety of vegetables. But that wasn’t the point of this post, so I didn’t want to mention it above. The important thing is backing up my husband. If he says they have to do it, then they have to do it. And vice versa. We must present a united front to these young ‘uns, or they’ll be eating us for dinner!
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I was raised in a convent where we were always asked to finish what was on our plate – whether we liked it or not. Often we just ate it – even the dreaded cauliflowers & the broccolis. If you didn’t eat, you would stay hungry until the next meal time. But then that habit grew into me and made me less fussy about food. I guess as parents, this “my way or the highway” approach would be too harsh, yea? …What do I know about parenting anyways…
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I can’t afford to be throwing good food away, so my kids have learned to eat everything on their plate. But I cook food they like to eat, so it is never really a problem. They do have to be encouraged with new foods, like the above story. After trying it a couple times, they’ll get used to it and then it is a regular part of their diet. There are dishes I make, like Shepherd’s pie and Tuna casserole, which they refused and said they hated when I first served them and now they are favorites, so I remind them of that any time they are fussy about something new.
I don’t suppose you would have been allowed to joke about how your food was better than eating insects when you were around the table at the convent, eh?
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Joking about food? Comparing with insects? No way!! 😀
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Funny!
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😀
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insects is a pretty low bar 😉
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that’s only because we’re not familiar with eating insects
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That is true. I read recently that there are only 2 countries in the world that don’t eat insects. I live in one of them. Logically I get that the only difference between eating a beetle and a shrimp is social convention, but here we are.
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Mmmm beetles, said me, never.
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My take: if you can get your kid to refuse high fructose corn syrup you are a winner
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I know. I felt a little hypocritical for writing this about corn since it’s not a true vegetable and we in the US probably have too much corn in our diet as it is. I didn’t really care if my son ate the corn, but his dad wanted him to, and we always back each other up in situations like these.
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I was taught to eat what is on my plate and be thankful that someone cares enough to make me food at all.
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I have definitely pointed that out to my kids on more than one occasion.
My Dad used to say, “Eat every carrot and pea on your plate.” (read that out loud if you don’t get the joke right away)
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lOLOL
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My kids love fruit and veggies…and whole grain bread. I can’t take any credit for that tho; they just came out that way. The youngest guy has issues with meat but it’s a tough debate. Meat IS kinda creepy if you think about it lol.
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(Truth be told, my kids eat plenty of vegetables, but I don’t want to brag about it.) My friend Nicole was the same way, as a child she just didn’t like meat and she tried to avoid it, now she is a vegetarian.
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I’m a kid myself. Well, when I didn’t want to eat something, well… I eat anything. But if that was a situation, my mother would say: “Do you want to be like one of those starving children if Africa? I can take you there!”
Obviously, she didn’t mean it, but I was much younger. And now I eat it because I like it.
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Well if it works? But that argument doesn’t make much sense to me. Thanks for checking out the Honking Goose! 😀
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Thank you for the follow! Like pokemon?
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My kids do! I like those wallpapers. 🙂
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Thank you! It is an app. 😉
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The eldest used to get in trouble in grade four because of continually snacking – her snack – carrots. Luckily we never had an issue with our three kids. I can say it was because I made all my own baby food and they started young, but a lot did the same, and they still had picky eaters. So I’m going with genetics.
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In trouble for snacking on carrots! There were many things I appreciated about the two years we spent homeschool, for instance, no one ever got in trouble for snacking on carrots. 🙂
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My boys are the same! Corn just isn’t corn unless it is on the cob! Funny isn’t it!
I use this method of getting veggies in them. http://peacecrafting.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/my-child-will-not-eat-vegetables-problem-solved-spread-the-word/ it only works if the ratio of potato is greater than that of the veg though 😉 Check it out and let me know how it goes down, they won’t suspect a thing 😁 Mine also much prefer a crispy topped cake to just the mash we discovered tonight. Wow what a dinner time that was! Much love HG.
Lucy
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That’s what my son said – he only likes corn on the cob. Pshaw. Shhh, don’t tell the other parents, but I really don’t have a problem with my kids eating vegetables. They eat all sorts of fresh and cooked veggies. I’ll check out this recipe, though, thanks.
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I had absolutely no problems with my daughter. Her favorite foods were broccoli and brussel sprouts. No big surprise, she grew up to be a pseudo-vegan. My son, on the other hand, was a self-proclaimed carnivore. Not omnivore, carnivore. He, like your son, was adament about no veggies.
So, I made a main dish and a veggie every meal and he was required to consume at least one spoonful. Then, I happily served him meatballs (using pureed carrots to bind the meat instead of some of the eggs.). I made tuna patties – pure fish (except for the shredded zucchini that sort of blended in and the spinach that he thought was simply parsley) and so on and so forth. 🙂
Even now, he hates fast food – convinced they aren’t making the burgers properly because they don’t taste anything like the pure venison (well, except for the sweet potato puree 😉 ) that I made. And now, he usually eats his veggies as long as they are covered in cheese or ranch dressing.
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Kids are so unique aren’t they? Mine are just the opposite they prefer their veggies plain, not covered in any sauce or dressing. The truth is, I don’t have a problem with them eating enough vegetables. They eat all sorts, raw and cooked. They might protest the first couple of times a new one is introduced, but after that it is a regular part of their diet.
Last year my husband tried to make them eat salad with us and they hated it until we realized they just didn’t like the dressing, when we gave it to them plain, they gobbled it up and now they always have salad when we do.
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I know how that is. I love broccoli and Brussels sprouts! I love veggies… But my brother doesn’t, really.
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Technically corn is a grain. A starchy grain that we use in the place of a vegetable. My grandmother never considered it a vegetable and would always cook an actual vegetable with it (or fruit in the case of stewed tomatoes). When my son was little he LOVED his vegetables. He preferred them raw in the case of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Now he’s 16 and he likes them sautéed in a little olive oil or steamed. Whichever they may be, he still prefers them a little crunchy. He will only eat corn on the cob, no niblets for him lol. You’ll have to experiment with them and see how your kids prefer them as well. Now if you can figure out how to get my kid to eat chicken still on the bone or beef in a form other than burger, meatloaf, or brisket we can talk lol.
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I’m referring to the elementary classification of animal, vegetable, mineral, a la 20 questions. And my kids do happily eat lots of vegetables, but shhh, don’t tell the other parents, I don’t want them to be jealous. Our boys do eat corn on the cob and typically only protest the first couple of times they have to eat a new vegetable, after which it becomes a part of their common diet.
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I shamelessly bribe them. “Eat your veggies and you can have ice cream.” It is like Turkish Delight in Narnia… dark magic! 🙂
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Bribing my son has never worked. He’s far too stubborn for that.
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At ten, he WOULD be far too sophistocated! 🙂
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I am not above a bribe once in a while.
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