How to Get Your Toddler to Eat More Vegetables

“Yuck! I hate vege-bles!” you hear your toddler – or preschooler – say. Before you know it, the tug of war over how to get your toddler to eat more vegetables has begun. You’re determined you’re going to win this time, but things don’t look promising.

You may be pulling your hair out as you try to get your child to eat more than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or macaroni and cheese. Try these six tips on how to improve your child’s opinion of vegetables.

* Let them pick what vegetable to have with dinner. Since starting “Toddler Tuesday” in my meal plans, I let my Little Dude (now 4 years old) pick what we’re having for dinner. Because it’s was picked by him and made just for him, he eats every bite.

* Make eating vegetables fun. If you cut them up into smaller pieces that don’t seem too big to eat, they may be more willing to give them a try. Make broccoli  into “little trees” or cut celery into “little boats”. Little Dude will eat carrots  as long as we call them “bunny snacks” and let them hop to his mouth. I can also get him to eat avacado, but you don’t want to know what we call that!

* Let them help in the kitchen. Of course, you’re not going to give your toddler a sharp knife and ask them to cut up vegetables, but you can still get their help. Get out your hand masher and let them mash either white or sweet potatoes. You can even add some milk, butter and cheese to cauliflower to mash them. I let my Little Dude put the veggies into a bowl, then into the microwave. Then after I set the time, he presses the start button. Because he “helped”, he eats it up!

* Make a deal to get them to try anything and respect their taste. We tell Little Dude that if he tries it, and doesn’t like it, he can have something else (like corn or peas from the freezer to easily heat up in the microwave). Sometimes they need a little coaxing to try something new. And sometimes, you need to get them to try something new 4 or 5 times before they actually like it.

* Add some cheese. I learned this trick with Hubby! Seriously, anything I add cheese to gets gobbled up. You can either melt some shredded cheese onto your veggie or use cheddar cheese soup to entice a picky eater.

* Sneak a veggie (or two) into a smoothie. The only way I can get Little Dude to digest any amount of  spinach is to include it with pineapple in a smoothie. The sweetness of the pineapple hides the flavor and he loves the “yucky” green color.

Your child may not want to eat their vegetables, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get them to eat them with some clever thinking and a little bit of ingenuity. You may not like being sneaky when getting your toddler to eat more vegetables, but if you want them to be healthy it might not seem like such a bad idea.

I’m so excited to learn that Horizon now has yogurt with fruits AND VEGETABLES in it for kids. Since he already loves yogurt, I’m sure banana and sweet potato or strawberry and carrot yogurt will be a hit. You can find out more information and sign up for a coupon at www.LittleBlends.com.

And to help spread the word about www.LittleBlends.com, Twitter Moms is hosting a blogging contest. You can get the details and participate at the Twitter Moms forum.