ah that's such a cute article. and great that coco likes veggies so much.
i literally grew up on tomatoes and olives, that's about all i liked when i was coco's age.

Well, I've got twins boys and they have completely different eating habbits. One of them eats alot, all the time, but never any veggies. I always try to stuff them into cheese, but he wont be fooled. The other one eats very little, is extremely picky, and eat almost only veggies! So, I'm having some problems aren't I?

We don't have a problem with it. It's understood that you eat everything that's on your plate and no one complains.
But, then everyone in our family likes fruits and veggies and kids eat them since they start easting solids (mashed or in purees, etc) and I guess they are just used to it. The only family I know whose daughters won't eat anything 'green' have this problem because the father refuses to eat fresh fruit and veggies and the girls copy him (they're 7 & 10 now and have had constant colds, etc. All their lives and their mother doesn't understand why!? At least they drink vitamin and mineral supplements now). Sorry, for the long post, just a pet peeve of mine.

Both my kids, thankfully, have always been good fruit and veggie eaters. I started them young, so it's something they've just always been used to. My kids like to snack, so a lot of their snacks are fruits or raw veggies. They love ranch dip, so I always have that on hand because they will eat a ton of baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices if they have dip for it. There are veggies they don't like, but now that they're both a little older, I encourage them to at least give something a try. And they will pretty much eat any type of fruit, so I always have fresh fruit, washed and ready, on hand.

My children love fruits and veggies. I don't have to do anything fancy or creative to get them to eat them.

My oldest sounds like Coco. She loves broccoli, spinach, shrimp, corn, green beans, grilled chicken, all fruits, and whole grain breads. If we go out to a restaurant, she will order a pizza with black olives, spinach, and mushrooms. No pepperoni for her! She always gets broccoli as a side item when it is available. I get so many looks from servers, not sure if my child is serious or not!

My youngest loves carrots, green beans, peas, cheese, and any fruit other than melons. They both love water and milk. The only cereal they eat is Kix or Cheerios. I just don't offer them other choices. When they want a snack, they ask for fruit, yogurt, or fresh mozzarella. My husband and I sometimes indulge in not so healthy foods, but we do it when they are not around, so it is not a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of moment. The only time they have junk food or whatnot is when they are with grandparents. And even then, my parents still feed them pretty healthy, because that is the way I was raised.

My children are really healthy eaters and veggies are some of their favorite foods! My husband and I have never prepared a separate meal for our children, just given them what we eat. They love spicy things too.

I think it's important to develop a child's palate from birth (they can taste things even through breast milk) and not dull it down for them just because they're children. I've never understood that. Good food is good food at any age!

My daughter is almost 14 months old.
Our solution to get her to eat healthy food-
We only offer her healthy food.
Once she starts school and she is around other kids she will be exposed to all sorts of unhealthy food, so we feel like while we have control over her diet, it will be healthy.
She won't ask for cookies or macaroni and cheese, because she's never had them.
Most food that is geared toward kids is horrible for them, so we don't feed it to her.
She eats a ton of fruits and vegetables. Berries, melons, radishes, lentils- you name it- she probably eats it.
All of her grains are whole grains. She's never had sugar.

She's only ever had two colds.

If all you ever offer your child is healthy food, that's all they'll know.
To my daughter a banana is dessert.

Our hope is that once she is school aged and exposed to processed, unhealthy food, that she won't have a taste for it.

Nice theory, Torrie.
But I am on the other end of this experiment and suffice it to say, it did not have the outcome I expected.
My daughter and son are 11 and 8. I never even fed them jarred baby food, I breast fed until they were 18 months. Everything they ate as little kids was organic. No Hydrogenated oils, not artificial sweetening..nothing but au natural for my babies.
Then they went to school. And suddenly were exposed to parties and sleepovers and school lunches...and voila, the love of anything colored with Red Dye was discovered. I tried to hold the hardline about what they ate. At parties I tried to deflect them from the not so great choices to the limited great choices. I sent them to school with homemade lunches. Know what? They rebelled. My oldest would sneak food. My youngest refused to eat what I put in front of her.
So, I gave in. While their entire diet is not made up of crap, I do let them have some choices. I figured giving in a little would make food not such an issue for them. And it is working.

My two year old knows that he must TRY everything on his plate. He doesn't have to finish it or love it but he must try it to make up his mind. He is a very good eater and I too started from birth. Breastfeeding and then fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean meats. All organically of course. Only the best for my little angel!

Torrie...Good try but I'm sure that she will have a taste for it!

When my daughter was about 2 she went through a stage where she wouldn't eat anything except for fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. She has always loved vegetables her favorite being broccoli, she even likes brussel sprouts and spinach.

My kids ate veggies when they were young. The 12 year old now mainly eats meat but will eat broccoli or candied carrots. The 7 year old has always loved veggies and loves all kinds, eats a salad with her meal, and will eat every tomato I pick. I never made a big deal about veggies though. I put them on the plate and never mentioned them. They saw me eating them and they ate them. If they didn't like them, I didn't force them.

im sixteen and my mam tried for as far back as i could remember every method of making me eating fruit and vegetables and id literally be sick as soon as it touched my tongue. i think what kids eat can be a reflection on their parents but both my parents are healthy eaters and i dont know why i have such problems with eating.

cocos a lucky girl :)

When my son was a newborn, I read that you needed to introduce a new food to a baby several times for them to develop a taste for it. So, when he was old enough to start on solids, that is what I did. If I fed him a jar of green beans, and he turned up his nose at it, I waited a week and then would offer it to him again, and if he still turned up his nose at it, I'd wait another week and try again. Usually by the 4th try, he liked it. By the time he was 2 years old, he would eat almost anything you put in front of him, with his favorites being meats, veggies and fruit. He wasn't much on pasta, rice or potatoes....so I didn't force the issue. My dad use to force me to eat everything on my plate, wheter I liked it or not and it made mealtimes miserable, so I never did that with my son. My rule is you have to try everything on your plate, every meal, but you don't have to eat it if you don't like it. He is now 11 years-old, and while he has a sweet tooth, like alot of kids, he will eat almost anything and is always willing to try something new. His favorite foods now include: crab,steak, brustle sprouts(which I hate, lol) and asparagus.

I find it interesting when parents think they have complete control over what their kids' eating styles are. My 3 year old always refuses to eat. My 2 year old always wants to eat. The only difference is that the 3 year old started rice cereal at 4 months and the 2 year old started rice cereal at 6 months. Other than that, they've had the same eating lifestyle---but they are still different!

My son isn't a veggie eater, except corns. He was before 4. On the other hand, my daughter loves veggies, just like Coco, she loves broccoli, shrimp and chicken, also cauliflower and peas.

I don't have kids yet, but I have seen the experience my parents have had with my brother. He is a picky eater because he has a very high gag reflex. Texture and smells really get him. When he was a baby if he didn't like the food he was given it immediately would come back out of his mouth. It got to the point where my parents could see it coming and they would just stick their hand under his mouth to catch whatever offending food came out!

At 17 he still is an incredibly picky eater (for example practically no veggies,he does eat salads, and he is very choosy about fruit.) The rule is if he doesn't like what we fix for dinner he has to cook his own. I just call him weird because he doesnt like mexican food or CHOCOLATE!! What person doesn't like chocolate? Anyway, sometimes there is just no way to get kids to eat what they should. My brother is very healthy, and that is all that counts.

Our children enjoy most fruits and veggies. To make it more appealing, I sometimes sprinkle grated cheese on veggies (like broccoli) or offer hummus for dipping. Generally if my daughter has something to dip veggies in, she'll eat them!

I have a little Coco too (4.5 years old) and she used to eat veggies, but not anymore (except peas and carrots).

I agree with many of the above posters that consistently offering your child healthy foods, including veggies, will help them develop a taste for them. That's not to say they'll never eat junk food once they get the chance, but it all balances out if you give them a good foundation and have primarily healthy foods around the house. Everything in moderation, right? None of us eats perfectly all the time, but as long as you don't make food a big pressure or guilt issue, your child will learn good eating habits.

If you have one of those kids who just can't get past the texture of veggies (or whatever the issue is), you can certainly be creative with getting vegetables into them. If they like tomato pasta sauce, you can puree cooked veggies like bell peppers, zucchini, and spinach and add it to the sauce. Pureed veggies in soup work well, too. Try zucchini bread muffins or carrot cake (made with applesauce instead of sugar).

All sorts of raw vegetables (spinach, lettuce, kale, cucumbers, zucchini, sweet potatoes) can be hidden in smoothies (frozen blueberries cover up the green specks), and you really can't taste them! Drop them in the blender or food processor with pineapple, orange juice, bananas, and berries. My son LOVES these smoothies!

My girls used to eat everything. Exclusively breastfed, never had jar food, they everything under the sun until they hit 2....and then it all changed. They would go days without eating anything but toast. Absolutley refused, like Custard's Last Stand. They are now 4 & 6 , and I am still in denial. They will eat fruit, but vegetables...basically none. I have tried eveything, from cooking from kids books with them, inviting friends over who eat vegetables so they can see, to sending them everyday in their lunch for an entire year, and not having them eat them once. I can't hide them or puree them in anything. They are like bloodhounds. My oldest daughter's teacher even had a reward system for those who ate vegetables at lunch. Each day they would get a sticker, and whoever reached 30 stickers got a prize. Everyone in the class got a the prize, and she never even got one sticker. Ah so stubborn. I think some things you just cannot control.

I love that kids love they're veggies, and I know I was defiantly one of them. My father completely refused to feed me that junk in a bottle and instead mashed up fresh steamed veges, from an early age. Since then I just love my veges and there are few I won't touch! I agree that from an early age is best, so they will hopefully be used to it and adopt a healthy veggie attitude in the future! lol.

that's great she loves veggies. it's hard to get kids to eat their veggies now a days,with all the advertisements for junk food.

my almost 4 year old LOVES her broccoli and corn. she's not much of a meat eater like her little brother,but she's getting there. her little brother loves green beans. that's about the only vegetable i can get him to eat.

It was funny reading this because my daughter's favorite food is broccoli too (she also loves chicken and shrimp). She just turned 5 but has always been a great fruit and veggie eater. She, along with her brother (age 8), have really only been exposed to really healthy food and rarely hvae fast food or junk. My son went to Chik-fil-a for the first time when he was 6 years old with his soccer team. Even at fast food restaurants my kids will gladly get fruit in place of fries. I think exposing them to fruits and veggies early and repeatedly helps. Keeping junk out of the house also helps.

My neice is 6 and since i can remember she has loved broccoli. Its something that when ever she visits she must have. It even get to the point where thats all see wants is fresh broccoli or cream of broccoli soup. She like other veggies, but none as much as her "little trees".

My son only likes fruits and veggies! We find ourselves saying things like "you have to eat one more bite of meat before you can have more peas!!" LOL! It's a "terrible" problem to have, our friends and fam tell us, but we do worry about him getting enough protein and iron!! He is also a good milk drinker though so I guess that's that...