Is there any inspiring way to get small boys to eat salad?

[Pruners]

Message withdrawn

I do a similar thing to Enid. Just leave the stuff lying out on the table and they help themselves.

(Or I prepare them, leave them on the chopping board, nip out of the kitchen for 30 seconds with the instruction to "not pinch any xyz while I'm gone" - that often sparks an interest!)

dd3 threw herself onto the floor crying yesterday

'I hungry! I need salad!'

Get them to make it
And to choose the bits they want at the shop

Dips are good IME as they don't realise that they're eating lots of carrot sticks and cucumber etc as they plough through the houmous or whatever dip it is.

Also does he watch LazyTown? If so point out that salad is Sports Candy and one of Sporticus' favourites (well that worked for a friends DS)

Tiny tomatoes are 'tomato bombs' in our house. I'd take credit, but I think DS1 made it up.

Of course, he loves rocket, because it's called rocket.

That being said, he doesn't like avocadoes, and generally won't eat them. (but he's allowed to have preferences, like the rest of us!) Oh, but he's mad for kohlrabi.

DS2 still only eats peppers, so far. I expect he'll come around. He's asking to try things these days, so it'll happen.

The only salad veg DS will eat is cucumber. Otherwise he only eats peas, sweetcorn and frozen carrots.

I tend to hide veg in bolognaise sauce.

Would love him to eat more veg.

Not even Sportacus could persuade him when he was into Lazytown.

Me and ds pretended to be herbivorous dinosaurs one day. We built dens in the dining room and practiced growling menacingly at each other. Earlier we'd popped to the shops and bought rocket, round lettuce, cucumber, cress and a few other bits, and when we got back we spread them out all over a blanket on the floor. Ds was delighted when I told him he could eat it with his fingers and mouth. I told him that real dinosaurs would frighten off any creature that came near the best food so we had to scare each other away but not be too aggressive - he loved that too. Tbh it was a bit of a shot in the dark but he ate some of everything, and within a few weeks of putting the odd bit on his plate he was eating a 'mixed salad' of lettuce, cress and cucumber. It's not exactly a full salad but it's a good start.

and that, my friends, is the ponciest thing i've Ever Heard...

Oh wow, thanks! Don't think I've been poncey before on MN, I'm usually too boring. I shall remember this day with pride (sniff).
x

and i wil forever picture you crawling around and chewing noisily on leaves.

c'mon, pruni, you asked for inspiring ways to get small boys to eat salad... no-one's gonna top karen's, are they? it's absolute bloody genius.

lettuce and spinach are dinosaur leaves hear.carrots are one for the rabbit one each for the dc.cucumber is snozcumber like in bfg.celery in dips.

my ds1 has just discovered love of radishes!he had them in a salad at nannys and kept asking for the round things that are red on outside and white inside-i thought he ment babybelle so our fridge is now packed with radishes!

ROFL at Karen's dinosaur impersonation. Top ponce marks for 'herbivorous'

This really irritates me too.

I have completely given up on tomatoes

However, I did have some sucess last week with giving 4 small strips of yellow pepper and saying that if they didn't at least taste them there was no pudding. They tried them and did actually enjoy them and ate the lot!

Salad cream. generous application thereof.

offer the salad whist they watch the salsd episode of peppa pig, george eats salad after being persuaded to try it, enjoys it. they have choc cake for pudding BTW so you might need to prepare. My 2 tried salad for the first time this way, now eat lettuce and cuecumber but still don't like tomatoes. But I didn't eat raw toms til I was an adult.

at tv inspired salad eating. So far on this thread
Peppa
Lazytown and Charlie and Lola

Make a funny face out of the veggies and then make a game of eating nose, eyeballs etc
I suppose you have tried the traditonal train in the tunnell and aeroplane techniques?

PMSL at Karen's dinosaur impressions.

The answer is in fact "stickers" - but only at school.

DS eats only cucumber (as much as he can get hold of) and peppers at home, and since he eats loads of other veg I am not overly bothered.

However, at school, when there is a "healthy eating" sticker at stake, he will eat lettuce and anything else he is asked to

mmmm Ilurve salad cream.

Message withdrawn

You can't go wrong with a bit of blatant lying creativity.

DS doesn't like mushrooms so I just told him that the omelette he was about to eat was an olive omelette (as he loves olives) and he ate the lot!

DS ate some tomato at nursery on two days last week, apparently (once the pips had been removed). I was shocked.

I have been known to tell him that mushrooms are "brown asparagus", too. In principle I don't approve of lying to him, but he was halfway through before he'd noticed the brown bits, and he was enjoying it, and I knew if I told him they were mushrooms he'd refuse to eat any more .

thank god for houmous. dare I say burger? We do the growing think but it falls apart when it gets to eating time...