Comments on: Tips for Getting Your Kids to Love Vegetables

By: Denise Lincoln

Denise Lincoln — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:05:56 +0000

Hi Karee — I’m so glad you found this helpful. I hope your son enjoys picking out his veggies. Good luck!

By: Karee

Karee — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:51:32 +0000

I really liked this article. I was actually researching how to hide veggies in my son’s food – he’s almost 3 and won’t eat any veggie except celery because the Wonder Pets eat it. I feel much more confident, however, about getting him to eat veggies, after reading this. I hadn’t thought about taking him shopping to pick them out. I know he’ll look at the veggies in the fridge that he thinks are pretty and he’ll oogle over them for a few minutes, but when it comes time to tasting, you’d swear they growled at him. The one thing, however, I am going to try to do is make cookies out of mashed carrots and yams, instead of flour.

By: Julie From Lifeskills 411

Julie From Lifeskills 411 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:27:49 +0000

Awe poor Jessica. I have to say I did use her tactics on my husbands son. He did not like vegetables so I coated them with ranch dressing (which he loved) and we got them down.

I think Jessica’s point is get them down. I believe that a child’s taste buds are different than a parents and we should respect a child’s wishes when they don’t like something and see if we can find a way that they like it.

When I was little mustard worked for me. It covered the taste of just about anything. My father made over-cooked veggies all the time and I hated them but with the mustard I could get them down. Before I was allowed to use the mustard I spent many nights crying at the kitchen table over the veggies I could not eat… I was not allowed to get up until I ate them and I have to say that was really TORTURE…

I belive that just about any Food is good but you have to find the way YOU like it prepared.

Collard Greens: I use chicken broth and smoked turkey necks. I was them very well and season them generously. Most everyone loves my “Greens” even if they are not a greens person. I make sure they are tender but not soggie and cut small so that they are not to much in one bite. I only use the leaf and remove all the stem.

My Kale is killer… I make sure it’s fresh and tender and after a carefull washing I pull off all the leaves and cook in chicken broth and a turkey italian sausage. Everyone loves it.

I am on a special program for Food Addicts and I eat a lot of vegetables every day “6 oz” at lunch and dinner and also a large 10 oz green salad with raw veggies for dinner so I am learning to appreciate the goodness of vegetables and I have found many ways I love them.

I still use Mayo on my brocklie and asparagus but am hoping for a new toping If anyone has a suggestion.
My food sponsor says try Salsa or lemon…as butter and mayo are no no’s.

By: elarael

elarael — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:03:00 +0000

As a child, I had no aversion to vegetables as long as they were fresh and simply prepared. Now I know that that’s how they are best. If people had only given me a serving of finely grated raw beets for example, instead of wildly over-flavored, pickled, cooked beets, I would have loved them. Same goes for all the butter soaked veggies I was ever entreated to finish. They are so much better for kids, plain, or very lightly flavored and fresh.

I think the fact that I often saw them growing and had some connection to the earth, thanks to our science teacher and our class projects, made an enormous difference.

By: Kim Guymon

Kim Guymon — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:11:00 +0000

I think you missed one point in the book. She says to continue to place the veggies on the table in their glorious, naked form and do the veggie battle. However, you will have peace of mind knowing you’ve already won it because the kids are scarfing down a ton in the spaghetti sauce you just made.

My 10 1/2 year old started eating veggie baby food and was fine with it most of the time. But the child has an absolute aversion to most veggies now. He can taste them a mile away. No corn or carrots for him. However, he’ll eat baby spinach covered with Ranch Dressing, sweet potato “pudding” (Sweet Potato baby food topped with brown sugar) and Shepherd’s pie. So, we do what works. But he also eats a lot of hidden veggies thanks to his sneaky mom.

By: The Java Junkie

The Java Junkie — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:59:00 +0000

My daughter has always been a great eater of veggies, with the exception of brussels sprouts – she was finally won over by the “on the stalk” version. Great ideas!

By: Denise Lincoln

Denise Lincoln — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:43:00 +0000

Thanks so much for your comments. I would love to think that parents in the Bay Area give their kids fresh veggies every day b/c we have such great access to them, but know first hand this unfortunately isn't the case. I know a fair number of parents (who live in the Bay Area and are active and involved in their children's lives) who have just given up on the idea that their children will eat vegetables. Some of these people sneak in vegetables, while others give their kids vitamins to make up for nutritional short falls.

You are right that preparation is incredibly important, as is getting your child involved in cooking the meal, choosing the vegetables, etc.

I'm glad your nieces love to eat their vegetables.

By: stephfour

stephfour — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:23:00 +0000

I don’t think this book was marketing for the Bay Area where we have access to fresh wonderful produce. I think part of the problem is that many parents of small children don’t really know how to prepare vegetables well. I know I grew up hating vegetables because all we ate were frozen veggies boiled until any taste they had were gone. Now I love veggies and love learning new ways to prepare them.

One thing in Jessica’s defense is that she still serves unhidden veggies to her children and admits that it is important that they learn it’s part of a healthy diet. Hiding vegetables is more of a sanity device for her. This way every meal time isn’t a battle to get the kids to eat a balanced meal. Not having any kids myself I can’t provide actual experience. Plus all my nieces are excellent vegetable eaters. Any parents of fussy eaters out there want to voice an opinion?

By: Michael Procopio

Michael Procopio — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:01:00 +0000

Great article. It makes me want to wrangle up some children on whom I might experiment.