When (and how) did you toughen up on vegetables?

[Tory79]

Ds is 2.9 and barely a vegetable passes his lips unless it's well hidden.

He actually eats generally well apart from this, but it basically means that if we have a meat and veg type of meal then the veg will not be touched. At the moment I do no more than tell him eg he can't have any ketchup if he doesn't eat 5 peas or something along those lines, but I leave it as his choice and occasionally he eats the peas....

It does make it quite hard though, and he certainly doesn't have enough veg in his diet, although he does like some random things like spinach and onion tart.....

So I was just wondering at what sort of age people began insisting their dc ate some veg and how they enforced that. So far food has remained a fairly battle free zone for us....

Thanks!

[smokeandfluff]

Everything-foods like red meat and liver would be a much better source of iron than spinach, will she eat those? Some breakfast cereals would be fortified with iron, it might be worth checking the labels. I doubt you can blend too much spinach into a sauce with out turning it green

[piratecat]

he's getting a good range. at least he does texture.

my dd is 12 and will only eat carrots, with ketchup. sigh.

[LoveBeingInTheSun]

Forgot, if you try it and don't like it then you may leave it. Next time it's in your plate you have to try it again

[JennyWren]

I've had roaring success with (jokingly) forbidding my DC to eat vegetables, and meat. They always appear on the plate and I make no comment, but if I feel that they haven't eaten enough I firmly announce that broccoli is my favourite food ever, but they have to leave theirs for me. They're not allowed to eat it because it will make them grow. They're wise to the ruse now but they still take delight in defying me

[JennyWren]

I've had roaring success with (jokingly) forbidding my DC to eat vegetables, and meat. They always appear on the plate and I make no comment, but if I feel that they haven't eaten enough I firmly announce that broccoli is my favourite food ever, but they have to leave theirs for me. They're not allowed to eat it because it will make them grow. They're wise to the ruse now but they still take delight in defying me

[LoveBeingInTheSun]

Jenny this was a great one I remember from being little

[LeepyTime]

What I used to do is is to always put 2 different vegetables on their plate, one that they are familiar with (say peas) and have eaten before, even if not a favourite, alongside a new/less favoured one. So suddenly the peas become attractive compared to the newer veg and they eat them up and maybe pick at the 'new' thing. It's all relative as they say! So the peas are the norm/accepted, and gradually the new veg becomes accepted if you keep at it, and you can start the cycle with something else new/less favoured. Seems to work well, we have expanded our veg repertoire very well.

[Bedsheets4knickers]

The turning point for us was when ds was 3.5 he had a constipated poo, it terrified him. After that we have no trouble at all x