To think most kids hardly eat any fruit and veg

My DC1 always did, happily and without any need for argument or encouragement (she’s now 16).

DC2 has always been very reluctant to eat any vitamins except raw carrots (even that needs reminding at meal times) although he will eat fruit. A constant battle!

Irony is, with DC2 I followed weaning guidance much more to the letter than DC1 - did all the waiting til six months, BLW etc. DC1 was getting purée at four months due to a health condition 🤷‍♀️

Two out of my four kids will eat tonnes of fruit, and enough veg to keep me happy. Other two...nope.

It's pretty rare for kids to eat no or incredibly little fruit and veg. I have one, she has ASD and texture is a real problem so fruit is a no-no except bananas and lately strawberries (sort of, maybe just the one). Veg is slightly less restrictive and she is currently mainlining fresh peas in the pod.

However most kids would rather eat sweets and chocolate.

My DD aged six will eat a banana or grapes if ravenous, but wouldn't choose it herself. Apple slices at a push (with skin taken off with a knife first). Strawberries. That's about it at the moment on the fruit front.

Veg she will eat a bit of broccoli. Carrot sticks (raw). Cucumber sometimes. Peas in a pod from the garden. Will happily eat stews / sauce based meals with small veg cut up in. Green beans sometimes.

This is not for lack of trying - I have served up family meals with veg since she was born.

She eats really well in terms of protein. Loves lamb in all forms, duck, steak, fish, chicken, all sorts really. Often she will just eat the meat on her plate (and ask for more meat) and eat nothing else.

She's tall and slim and I have no concerns for now.

Only 9% of kids get 5 a day fruit and veg portions. And really we should be aiming for 10 portions. So yes OP, you are right.

The problem is there’s such a variety, and people prep or have different things to what they might be used to.

ie ‘ they won’t eat salad’ - I mean Ds won’t eat lettuce and tomatoes , but he would eat raw spinach, sugar snap peas and beetroot. So you might just think ‘ he doenst eat salad’. It’s easier for a child to just say ‘ I don’t like salad’

I think YANBU, although other posters say something else.
Let's look at fruit and vegetables: Stuff isn't tasty, gets spoiled soon, doesn't fill you up and causes belly ache.
Speaking for myself, as an adult (no kids around), who really isn't keen.

I have noticed the same. Hardly any will eat salad and turn their noses up at fruit.

Am not surprised. Why on earth did you, as an adult and host, feel the need to point this out to them? Surely a time to nod and smile, and feel free to judge away in your own head?

we went to a neighbours for lunch and a play recently. The mum cooked cooked from scratch a great veggie meal and the kids demolished it. For ‘pudding’ she but a mesh bag of satsumas on the table, by coincidence she put it in front of my 5 year old. I had to quickly step in and snatch them off my son and explain they were to share with everyone and not just for him. He seriously thought he was in heaven for 5 secs being given 6 satsumas to eat - that’s his dream!

so no. Not my experience with my kids or at play dates at all. Although if kids know there’s sweets and chocolate up for grabs it’s probably another different ball game. Mine included.

All the children I know eat huge amounts of fruit, mostly berries but it's true they aren't keen on veg. My children are older and were not really fruit eaters, I am not either tbf. I don't think you can judge from playdates though, most of them seem to use these as an excuse to eat as much crap as possible ime.

My 3.5 year old is a bit hit and miss with veg - he'll reliably eat peppers, peas and carrots (plus potatoes and onions), others come and go from favour. Fruit on the other hand - I can barely afford to keep him in the stuff, if given the chance he'd live on an all fruit diet.

Most of the kids I know are similar - keen on fruit, less so on veg (to varying degrees).

Yes I always found that when DDs were small. I would keep the meals very simple and actually not serve much veg- things like fish fingers, chips and peas, but a lot of children ate not much at all and hardly touched the veg. I didn't mind and just assumed they were nervous about eating things at other people's houses.

DDs were always ok with fruit and veg and pronounced "good eaters" when they were invited round for tea, though of course I've no idea whether mine ate their greens at other people's houses.

I can tell you as teenagers there seems to be no such problem though even with their friends, it's more like feeding gannets. DD2's mates are 16/17 and I made them a big salad, put some cold meat and cheese and butter on the table and warmed up some small baguettes and they wolfed the lot, salad and all.

Ive been astonished over the years how my DD’s friends state they don’t really eat vegetables. Most of them eat fruit though.

dd has a vegetarian friend who didn’t like vegetables and carried on eating meat on Fridays, birthdays, holidays… I pointed out that this not vegetarianism and she was most upset!

I've been a nanny for 20 years and find a lot of children won't eat fruit or veg on playdates unless they've been MULTIPLE times, it seems to be a trust thing combined with other more interesting snacks on offer. Current Charge is 3 and eats pretty much any fruit or veg you give him god forbid he eats anything wet though at home or at close family/ friends houses but if we're at a playgroup or a friends house that we don't often go to, he will not touch fruit or veg because its "yuck". He is not the first of my kiddos to be like this. It's a complete non event!

I live in a middle class area. I think most kids diets are appalling.

My son has arfid and will only eat bananas. I keep trying all the different fruit and veg periodically but he just doesn't like them. Other kids his age I know seem to have really good diets.

My 7 year old would reject raspberries and blueberries, he also hates bananas. However he loves apples, oranges, nectarines. He’ll eat raw pepper, carrots, onions but refuses to touch beans. Different children have different tastes, just because the ones you have had over didn’t eat the fruit on offer doesn’t mean they don’t eat fruit in general

Or more likely, they are trying it on in someone else’s house for the items which are limited in their own homes.

If you give them sweets and chocolate of course they will ask for them. You have been identified as a soft touch!

You might also have encountered the variant where they eat quite a lot of fruit and veg but of very limited types OP. Eat apples, broccoli and peas until the cows come home, but bananas, raspberries and carrots are the devil.

I find some of them are fussy about a fruit or vegetable they like being presented in a specific way too, whereas there isn't a direct equivalent of that with something that always comes in a wrapper and looks the same each time.

I wish they didn't.

I'm going to have to remortgage to fund dd's blueberry and raspberry obsession. She wolfs punnets down in seconds.

Ds is a bit cheaper, he's happy with a pack of baby sweetcorn and a conference pear for snacks.

My DS is quite fussy but he eats 10 million apples a day, and also likes all types of melon except watermelon (which might have seeds), bananas, pears, grapes and broccoli. However, some PPs would probably think he doesn't eat fruit or veg if they offered cucumber, watermelon and berries, which other children apparently like.

Again, all the children I know eat broadly the same foods as the adults, just in smaller amounts; lots of different vegetables as a matter of course. But there must be a sizeable demographic that doesn't.

DS (2.5) loves fruit, and eats most veg too. Don’t get me wrong, if you offered him a sweetie in one hand and a cucumber stick in the other, he’s probably going to go for the sweetie - he’s not daft. But most of his snacks are fresh fruit & veg and he demolishes the lot, and he’ll choose fruit over most other snacks. He chose a piece of apple over some chocolate his grandad was trying to slip him once! Watermelon is his favourite at the moment.

Maybe it’s partly down to what they’re served at home and their parents’ tastes? I eat a lot of fruit and veg myself, so it’s what’s available and he sees me eating.
Of course, the complete opposite might be true - maybe they’re encouraged to eat fruit and veg at home, and think you’ll say “yes” to sweets because they’re a guest, whereas mum usually says “no”!