Getting 2 YO to eat veg

SqueekyMouse

Lotus-eater wrote: »

The health visitor lady said he must have had a traumatic moment with a vegetable to be this way apparently. He will have soon I told her, unless he sorts himself out....... which probably got me on the children at risk register. :rotfl:

Love it!!!

Owain_Moneysaver

SqueekyMouse wrote: »

I understand why you're saying this to him, but you know it doesn't work. Try not to make food into a reward.

"If you eat x you can have y" only reinforces the message that x is horrible and eating it is a chore he must perform before he is allowed to have some yummy y that is clearly more desirable

"If you eat up all your McDonalds you can have some of mummy's broccoli. But only if."

lostinrates

Lotus, I can't believe its you writing tjis either!


Waitrose weekend magazine had someting on this today i noticed....saying the key thing reseearch showed was that them seeing you enjoying them is the most important technique.

Lotus-eater

marisco wrote: »

My niece got faddy about eating fruit, till my sister bought a blender and made smoothies. Now she loves it. Sometimes kids just cant be bothered to chew

He can be bothered to chew if it's potatoes (sometimes), meat (not mince now), eggs, cheese or bread.
He'll eat pears till they comes out of his ears, bananas, (although recently we've had a banana crisis, which I've worked extremely hard at reversing and I think has worked) raisins and strawberries.

He used to eat cucumber (no more), no chance on any other salad ingredient.

I wanted to be this perfect parent, who had this perfect child who would eat anything :rotfl: We eat anything and have a varied diet, so I assumed it would automatically rub off. His older sister was bad, but nothing like this.

Now I know what my parents went through with my sisters........ sorry Mum and Dad for blaming you.

Next reincarnation I'm going straight to Buddist holy man, so I don't have this worry.

marisco_2

Just when you think you have heard it all from health visitors. Do any of them speak any sense! Come on Lotus admit it, you got a bit OTT slicing a face into a pumpkin at halloween, and scared your toddler off veggies for life :rotfl:

Dont beat yourself up about all this. If you weren't a good dad this wouldn't be bothering you so much. How much variety of veg has your little boy tried. Dare I say it but is he bored with the range he tries? Is there any vegetable he hasn't tried that might just appeal to him.

He sounds like a smart cookie but would he link smooth soup as having veg in it Mine didn't yet he would swear black was white that nothing gets past him.

thehappybutterfly

Lotus-eater wrote: »

The health visitor lady said he must have had a traumatic moment with a vegetable to be this way apparently. He will have soon I told her, unless he sorts himself out....... which probably got me on the children at risk register. :rotfl:

I have an image of various veggies up noses :rotfl:

Lotus-eater

SqueekyMouse wrote: »

I understand why you're saying this to him, but you know it doesn't work. Try not to make food into a reward.

"If you eat x you can have y" only reinforces the message that x is horrible and eating it is a chore he must perform before he is allowed to have some yummy y that is clearly more desirable

Instead,
a/ always let him eat his pudding without any comment
b/don't have puddings so you don't fall into that trap
c/ IMO the best option - make puddings something healthy you'd actually like him to eat and then always offer it to him regardless of whatever else he's eaten (or not)

Our puddings are always healthy and he enjoys them, I was trying to use that as a reason for him eating his dinner.
Good advice though, I'm going to have to read through all this again in the morning and work out a new plan and stick to it.

lostinrates wrote: »

Lotus, I can't believe its you writing tjis either!


Waitrose weekend magazine had someting on this today i noticed....saying the key thing reseearch showed was that them seeing you enjoying them is the most important technique.

I know, I know ....:o It's painful to write.

We've enjoyed it believe me, we've waxed lyrical about purple sprouting broccoli "look it's little trees and I luurve them, they taste great", peas "they taste like little sweeties, go on try one"...aghhhhhhh everything
This has been going on for a year or more

Lotus-eater

marisco wrote: »

Just when you think you have heard it all from health visitors. Do any of them speak any sense! Come on Lotus admit it, you got a bit OTT slicing a face into a pumpkin at halloween, and scared your toddler off veggies for life :rotfl:

Dont beat yourself up about all this. If you weren't a good dad this wouldn't be bothering you so much. How much variety of veg has your little boy tried. Dare I say it but is he bored with the range he tries? Is there any vegetable he hasn't tried that might just appeal to him.

He sounds like a smart cookie but would he link smooth soup as having veg in it Mine didn't yet he would swear black was white that nothing gets past him.

Soup has no chance, not a hope, he knows (I swear) that things can be hidden in there.

He's tried loads of veg! I grow alot of my own, so we get all kinds of things. There is no vegetable I know that might work and believe me, I've tried to think of it.
And I know what a tomatillo is

thehappybutterfly wrote: »

I have an image of various veggies up noses :rotfl:

If he's very lucky

I am joking of course :rotfl:


I think

marisco_2

How about asking him if he would like to make pizza and put whatever ingredients he likes on it. Would he maybe give way if he could make a smily face pizza! Which kid could resist.

Hope some of these suggestions work. It is very difficult when you want the best for your kids and they fight it all so much.

Does he go to nursery yet? Once he does and starts eating with his peers, maybe his faddy habits will stop and he will try to keep up with them. Nurseries and schools follow healthy eating guidelines so this would fall in line with what you are trying to provide for him.

Just keep setting the great examples you are and he will settle down. Kids often use food to press all the buttons as they instinctively know it is the one thing that works.

Buttonmoons

Sounds like my one! Age of 2 that was it, wouldn't eat nothing apart from cereal, bananas, nuggets (urgh) toast and other boring bland things like crackers and breadsticks.

These days she is still terrible (6) but she will eat things like chilli/curries/etc etc as long as the vegetables aren't too noticeable. She won't touch things like beans, soups, ketchup, pizza, sausage rolls, ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches etc etc etc

Basically, food that kids usually like - no dice. She does like chickpea curry and falafels though - go figure.

She will now eat raw carrots and sweetcorn. The odd pea may pass her lips begrudingly also.

He will get better, with time