Strategy for Getting My Toddler to Eat Vegetables

My son, Tobias, is in his toddler years and he does really good eating his vegetables.

I’m not going to lie, he hasn’t always been super easy going with that. So we’ve always worked really hard — like, ‘hey, this is what you’re given’ — to not allow him to be ungrateful for his food.

I just think there’s so many kids in the world that have no nutritious food available to them, and my son is incredibly blessed to have everything that he needs, including a really healthy diet.

What we do:

1. For the most part, we just have him on the same program as Adam and I. (He eats what we eat.)

2. We set the standards and expectations for him. And now, most of the time he doesn’t even question it. Sometimes we make exceptions. He doesn’t love tomatoes, so I don’t make him eat that… Because I didn’t like tomatoes when I was his age either!

3. Say, for example, he doesn’t love cooked zucchini. What I say to him is, ‘Hey, you gotta eat your zucchini, but you know what you can do is try combo bites! So, eat the zucchini with a bite of chicken, or the zucchini with a bite of egg; or whatever your favorite part of your plate is, you can combo-it-up with your zucchini.”

4. Often I’ll make a yummy dressing or sauce to put with the meal. Or sometimes I’ll sprinkle something like almond butter on his salad, and he’s stoked. And I’m stoked too, cause it’s a win-win and he’s getting a healthy meal.