To think most kids hardly eat any fruit and veg

[Mummabear04]

I've just noticed that when I have kids round for play dates that loads of them will not eat any fruit or veg snacks. I understand not everyone will like everything but there are so many kids who will refuse apples, strawberries, grapes and I just find it mad. None of these kids have AFRID or any other needs. They always ask for sweets and chocolate which is fine and I don't mind giving them some but AIBU to think that most kids don't really eat any fruit or veg?

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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!

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!

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.

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).

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.

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.

Bananas have a lot of goodness in them!

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?

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

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.

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’

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.

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.

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.

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

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 🤷‍♀️

My dds have always been pretty good with fruit & veg but I wouldn't really offer fruit as a snack on a playdate unless they asked for it. I do however always serve veg with lunch or dinner & I have noticed most of my dd's friends won't eat it. I do wonder if they would eat it at home but feel they can get away with not eating it at someone else's house. Dd2 had 1 v fussy friend who wouldn't eat the carrots I served as they were the 'wrong shape"!!

You've answered your own question - you offer a favourable alternative and kids learn fast.

Kids often try it on at other people's houses because other parents aren't as invested in pushing a hard line for healthy treats over biscuits for other people's kids.

Mine will literally eat any fruit and veg gleefully at home (except raw carrot) and gets the 30 a week but as soon as goes to school she scrapes her veg and when offered a snack at a friend's house will ask what it is with her cutest hopeful face before committing.

At home we have an eat it or don't rule and all meals are diverse and healthy (yes, she gets treats in moderation) but there are no alternatives for meals and we don't do dessert.

But to see her in public, you'd be forgiven for thinking she doesn't like or eat much fruit and veg. You're only getting a snapshot.

He was raised by the classic mum in the 70s and 80s with salad and brown bread being seen as suspicious middle-class nonsense. Lucky bastard got potato waffles, which were the height of decadence to me at the time.

So was I, though we did have salad on a Saturday. All other veg was cooked to death. Fruit tended to be tinned or stewed. Oddly it made me love it though, the lack of veg made me want it more and anything fresh seemed a treat. Broccoli and spinach weren't a thing when I was little either (other than in Popeye cartoons), so I still think of them as something quite sophisticated and I absolutely love it even though I eat them twice a week at least.

My kids ate fruit and veg at home but associate having friends round with eating more junky food like biscuits.
I don’t know if they still do free fruit at school but my kids knew which friends like which fruit.