Kathy said around evening on January 16, 2008
I’ve made it my mission to make sure my kid eats well. Sure he has the occasional ice cream or cookie (Annie’s Bunny Grahams ..mmmm) but in general I try at the very least to get fruit and veggies into him every day. That doesn’t mean he eats them. But if it means I have to sneak them into his food without his knowledge then so be it. I’m armed with cookbooks, choppers, and blender’s to accomplish this annoying and sometimes ridiculously daunting task. Some kids eat anything. Some eat nothing. Mine eats selectively and depending on his mood. So getting him to eat a regular veggie without persuasion is an art form in this house. You have to time it right, you can’t draw attention to them on his plate and if need be, they need to be dipped in ketchup. (Ew)
Yesterday, he ate broccoli. Raw broccoli (dipped in fat free salad dressing). I thought I was hallucinating. My child willingly ate broccoli. It was a Christmas Miracle. The clouds parted, I heard a choir singing, the sun shined down on my face. I think I saw Jesus.
Maybe some kids eat broccoli all the time… I’m thinking it’s rare. Even if it was only a few unsuspecting “trees"… Now today he’ll not eat anything I make I’m sure. I am not so high that I think he’ll be a champion vegetable eater. But if for one day, I got an unpureed, uncanned, uncooked veggie into his little bloodstream, that’s a victory to me. And then he flung one at me and it hit the wall.
from Orlando, FL
Cocktail: Cabernet Sauvignon; gallons of it.
Broccoli-flinging is the latest fad with the tots, so I’ve heard. So is sticking peas into their nostrils.
from Tampa, FL
Eh. You are going to hate me AND my child. She eats anything and everything. Especially broccoli. She loves the broc. So I make sure that she eats well balanced each day. She gets her 3 to 5 servings of veggies each day. And fruit, the kid cannot get enough fruit. She even sucks on pomegranate seeds. Her guilty pleasures? Graham crackers and Goldfish crackers. And that is ok. I think. LOL
She is not of this Earth, that girl. But I thank those above that she is a good eater. Best of luck with the veggie eating, I will send you some of this kids veggie loving vibes!
from your moms.
One of the most frustrating parts of being a mother of a child this age is getting them to eat and eat right. Ugh.
My oldest loves fruits and veggies (a self-imposed vegetarian). He’ll eat broccoli (trees), but they have to be cooked. He also likes salad (lettuce). But he will not, absolutely refuses, to eat meat.
My youngest loves meat (a self-imposed carnivore). He’ll eat turkey, beef, chicken, lamb, pork, but refuses the fruits and veggies.
And then… like yours, they both change it up every day. Argh. I’ll have to try the pureed vegetables in the pancakes idea. That sounds interesting.
from your moms.
"Deceptively Delicious” is another good “hidden food” cookbook. I think it’s written by Seinfeld’s wife ...
Anyway, we had pizza with spinach on it last night. YUM!
I love that as the kids get older, their palette changes too. So something they’ve liked for years is suddenly off the list, and vice versa. UGH!
from your moms.
I met a two year old that LOVED broccoli a few weeks ago. I told his parents he was a freak of nature. I’ve never met a kid that actually like broccoli.
from your moms.
I am right there with you… our 2yo Bean ate her first broccoli last week, too (dipped in ketchup - ugh!) and actually ate stir-fried veggies this week. I’m sure it’ll be at least a year before she tries them again, based on past experiences, but I’ll take what I can get! She’s pretty “selective” (to put it nicely) and I’ve even resorted to putting chocolate milk on her Cheerios just to get some damn calcium in the kid.
from your moms.
I’m all for the pureeing of food and sneaking it into foods they do like.
from Boston
My daughter refuses to eat fish, meat, eggs, pasta, vegetables and really...mostly everything. I honestly do not know how she exists on what she consumes daily, which is usually oatmeal, fruit, yogurt and either soy “chicken” nuggets or grilled cheese. She refuses to “dip” and often eats NOTHING. She drinks milk, eats any fruit you give her and takes a daily multivitamin so...who knows. The day she eats broccoli I too will proclaim a Christmas miracle.
One the one hand I have to admire her will power.
from West Palm Beach, FL
Cocktail: Champagne Bellini
@tj: I have Deceptively Delicious too ... it’s a great book. I highly recommend them both.
*purees*
from my chair
A lot of moms hate me LOL just for the simple fact that my 17 month old is a kick ass eater! He loves salad, all veggies, sushi, pretty much anything you put in front of him he will eat. I know it’s great now, but in the end karma will kick my ass and when he is 13 he will wanna join a church and go all frou frou on me and wear button up shirts and kahkis and stuff… I just know it!
from your moms.
About the closest I’ve got my oldest to eating veggies in the last year is carrot cake. Not that I blame him...but… Our youngest has been performing a 6-month experiment to prove it is possible to live on air, milk, and Cheese-Its.
from your moms.
Oh and Jen, don’t get too smug—both my boys were fruit and veggie eating machines until about the 1.5 year mark. You might be on borrowed time so buckle up just in case.
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