Honestly, I’m not sure if there are any tricks to raising a child that loves veggies. This is a question that a lot of toddler mamas ask though, so I can tell you what worked for me.

First of all, my seven year old freaks people out with how much he loves veggies, so while I’m no expert, I feel somewhat qualified to comment on the veggie situation. Cedar will choose a plate full of broccoli over pizza, asks for red bell peppers and squash for breakfast, eats lettuce like it’s going out of style, and devours carrots in all forms, including ice pop form. This kid even likes onions. In fact, I can only think of one vegetable Cedar won’t eat, and that’s green beans, oh wait, and whole tomatoes.

How I (maybe) got Cedar to love veggies: I say maybe, because, perhaps he just loves them, but I do sort of think my methods have a little to do with it.

After breast milk, and rice cereal, veggies were the first food items I gave Cedar. We didn’t start with fruit. We started with pureed spinach, carrots, squash, and more.

Cedar was raised vegetarian, but he had plenty of other food options; it’s not like I just gave him veggies. However, maybe his limited meat interaction has something to do with his veggie love.

His dad and I eat veggies in front of him. We always did, we still do. Cedar sees us eating them, and that, I think has a lot to do with his process.

Our plates tend to be 75% produce, and 15% other food.

We never forced veggies. As a toddler, if Cedar felt like veggies, he got them. If he didn’t we didn’t force the issue. The kid eats great 90% of the time, so if he has some oddball two day veggie revolt, we ignore it, and we never ever have had a clean plate rule in my house. If Cedar doesn’t clean his plate and still wants desert, he gets it. I think that forcing food on kids, or limiting food options is a huge mistake. I think it tends to result in kids who don’t listen to their own stomachs or hunger / nutritional needs.

We never praised Cedar for eating veggies. We just served them. He never got the, “What a good boy, you ate your veggies!” speech. We talk about the health benefits of many foods, so Cedar understands that massive salt is no good, but we never seperated veggies as a “good” food, and candy as a “bad” food. Food is food.

We always let Cedar choose new produce items and then didn’t get mad if he decided not to like them. At the grocery store, if Cedar saw something, a new veggie and asked for it, we’d usually buy it. If we got home, he tried it, and didn’t feel like eating it, we didn’t force him to. Although, usually he’ll eat what he chooses.

We never hid veggies and rarely embellish them. We didn’t hide veggies in other foods just to get Cedar to eat them. We don’t butter and salt items. Cedar has always had veggies served in their true form, sometimes raw, sometimes cooked. We also keep veggies as fresh as possible - i.e. steaming is the norm, not overcooking.

End result: Cedar’s dad and I did all of the above and we have a child who has always loved veggies. He loves all sorts of foods, but I would say veggies and grains are his faves, so some of the above must have worked. Try some of these tips and see if they work for you.