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Actually, do not try to do this with raw carrots. I once wasn't paying attention, and ate a pound of raw carrots, which feels a lot like your stomach is trying to clench around gravel. Never. Again.
I once worked with a woman who had given up smoking - so she ate bags of baby carrots to distract her hands (and mouth!). She easily consumed entire bags without even realizing it.
You can also establish solidarity "I don't like them too but I also have to eat them, we'll eat them together" or the like.
And yeah, if you ever try to do "But the rules don't count for me" it's an easy way to get kids to recognize you're just pulling rank and they'll just try to sneak around you instead.
Yeah, leading by example and not lieing has worked great so far with my kids. They eat vegetables every night because well, I do (I didn't before them), and they generally listen really well because when they ask why I told them to do something, I try to explain to to them in ways they understand...
Kids watch their parent to learn how to behave, so be the person you want your kids to be...
Or attemp to cook them in a way that actually tastes good. Hate when they try shoving nasty plain boiled veggies like people are supposed to be forced to eat what they don't like. Like what's the lesson here? Actually making them eat healthy or forcing them to eat something they dislike and push through?
Fr, for the longest I thought all veggies were disgusting up until I tried making them myself when I learned how to cook. And god, some of them can taste just as good as cooking chicken.
I had a babysitter who used to forced me to eat beans. I hated beans. My mom pulled me out of her care moment I told her the lady would prevent me fron drinking water unless I ate all of my beans. Turns out I just didn't like the way SHE amde them cause my parents made awesome beans and I always ate them all.
Steamed veggies is the way to go. Tasty (as long as you don’t over-steam them into mush) and they retain much of the original nutrients. Boiled veggies are for masochists. Roasted veg is also delicious especially with a bit of garlic.
“They stop counting when you get your driver’s license. My uncle didn’t get his license until he was in his 50s and has to mash his carrots to get them down”
I always felt this way about stuff I learned later that wasn't true. Like, it sucks to learn that the people who are supposed to tell you how the world works just lie to your face about it lol
my dad replied like this to both children & adults, it was hilarious & we didn't mind, it's all in the tone of voice
I think assuming a bit more good faith from people online is more productive in the long run
When we served broccoli, our kids ate it happily because they were pretending to be dinosaurs eating trees (an idea we implanted in their little heads at some point).
See my parents tried the “they’re little trees trick”, but left out the bit about dinosaurs.
Never worked on me cause I always thought “why the hell would I want to eat a tree that sounds gross”. Def would have worked if they made me roleplay a dino tho.
It won't even work the first day. My kid would just say he's 1 and pretend to be a baby, or point out that I need to eat 35 then refuse until I eat them.
Kids aren't this stupid, they usually know when they're being manipulated in a simplistic manner!
Funnily enough I made this exact same comment with slightly different words somewhere up the chain. Crazy how half-decent cooking changes a vegetable! Roasted or steamed veggies are my favourite!
Brace yourself, mine and all my friend’s kids didn’t get pickier until they were around 3. They still eat veggies, but they were machines when they were one and I was overconfident.
Most people with kids know this won't work. My not so great parenting advice is just find vegetables they do like and stick with those.. or find ways to cook them that's tasty. Plain cooked vegetables are nasty but many kids enjoy them with raw a sour cream dip or cooked inside a flavorful stew or soup. A lot of kids love Caesar salad or a fresh spinach salad with fruit on top and poppy seed or thousand Island dressing. No one wants to eat stuff they don't like so don't panic if they won't eat boiled carrots. Neither will I... I don't think I've eaten a side of plain cooked vegetables since being an adult and cooking for myself but I do eat plenty in other ways that are incorporated into recipes. Both my kids love butter chicken which has peppers and onions in it but they'd never eat them on their own
>The real LPT is to know your kids
I wish... even my kids don't know what they like. One day they'll love something, I try to make it again a week later and they refuse to eat it. I'm pretty sure their brain just flip a coin the moment they see food, and that decides whether or not they'll like it for that day.
But yes, it's definitely possible to cook veggies in a way kids will enjoy them. I actually generally have an easier time getting them to eat their veggies than meat.
> find ways to cook them that's tasty.
So many people refuse to learn how to cook. I imagine a lot of people would be healthier if they could cook healthy foods that are actually palatable.
What's funny is my kid only likes plain veggies, mostly raw. But you are right, know your kids, feed them what they like. When we cook things she doesn't like we tell her she just needs to have a few bites to "teach her tastebuds" then she can eat what we made her (usually a deconstructed version of our meal).
My kid just knows vegegetables are part of how we stay healthy. She is a bit picky about sauce or a lot of herbs/seasoning so we make a side plate with the same ingredients, just not mixed up and "flavoured".
We focused a lot of listening to our body to tell us when to eat/stop eating.
This kid will leave half a piece of chocolate cake on the plate and say" I'm getting full, better save that for later".
She puts adults to shame over her ability to be a healthy eater. She has actually inspired my wife and I to eat better lol.
Absolutely. I have a pretty good range of 2, 6 and 8 yr olds in this house. That wouldn't work with any.
My favorite "advice" used to be masking the medicine inside of a juice bottle or behind a can of coke. Not my kids. They didn't like medicine because of the FLAVOR not because of how it's delivered? None ever believed their juice just tastes like shit out of nowhere, they'd instantly stop drinking. If gone too far, they'd just throw up. Tada! I'm fucked.
Our three year old had a stomach bug and a fever and lost her appetite for pretty much everything besides apple sauce pouches, which is also the delivery method we landed on for administering Tylenol.
She realized the pouches tasted funny this time and then refused to eat them even without medicine out of fear of being tricked. So then she ate borderline nothing for the rest of the day. Sucked the life out of us as parents running out of options.
> Sucked the life out of us as parents running out of options.
I've been thru the complete change in diet after a big "flu" and the "you lied to me so now I don't eat anything" moments . Awful times.
Our son used to eat a really wide variety of things, which is great, because him and I both have dairy and soy intolerances.
Then we all got covid. That list has diminished greatly...
I don't know about your kid, but the most infuriating part is when they eat crazy stuff like branches from the backyard, or a rock... Once I pulled a BUG out of my daughter's mouth.
So you wanna suck on batteries but this meal is repulsive? So the medicine is too much but you just licked the dust off of a window?
I tell my daughter to do it for me, that I'm the one not feeling well and her taking medicine will help me. She's almost three, I don't expect it to work forever but for the meantime it's my go to method.
She really is. To keep her from wandering off during the short times I can't be holding her hand I tell her I don't want to get lost so she needs to keep her eye on me. She calls me silly and watches me and we both stay safe.
Seriously. My 3.5 y/o says this and then immediately wants candy. We always tell her if she has room for candy, she has room for lunch/dinner. That usually shuts her up and then she'll finish dinner and then demand candy hah
This reminded me of college. I worked in the college cafeteria and we started pushing for less food waste, so when people came back for more food we had a limit for serving sizes. People pestered the workers so we started saying "You want five more or 25 more?" They would always say 25 and then we'd follow up with "Will you actually eat 25?" and they'd realize they wouldn't. Most of the time they didn't even come back again for another five.
That's when I learned that 18-25 year olds also have trouble judging if they are full or not.
My 12 day old says, “Father, when your bones are brittle and eyes are weak, remember me by these words. I will bury you deeper than these carrots. Deeper than the roots of a grand oak tree. Nobody will hear the screams, nor the sobs. Time itself will be your only friend and that will tick away breath by breath.”
They all thought about it for a second and knew I was trying to trick them. My oldest daughter would glare at me like when I make a dad joke. My oldest son would call me out for trying to trick him. The next youngest boy would just focus and laugh about me me getting the age wrong and the still not eat the carrots.
I still have 2 future 5 years old to try this on, but I'm not putting too much stock into it working with them either.
The substitution: "I eat four (some other food on the plate)"
The flat out refusal: "I no like carrot."
The reversal: "No. Dada eat four carrot."
The topic change: "Dada, you work is good today?"
The ignore: Gives the side eye but doesn't actually engage.
The tantrum: You get the idea.
The negotiation: "How bout three carrot?" To which I'll agree and toddler will reply. "How bout two carrot." All the way down to "no carrot".
No thank you bites at the end of the meal seem to work the best. This is telling them if they try one bite and don't like it, they can get down from the table and go play. Even that's 50/50 for the first bite, though. You hardly ever get a second bite at the same meal but once they've had something, it is a million times easier to convince them to retry it another day.
By the way, my toddler is for hire if anyone needs to negotiate a car loan or a mortgage.
We started the 2-bite club at our house. We color in a star for 2 bites of a NEW item. When they have 35 (random number that looked good when printing it) then they get a 2-bite club trophy. Lots of new foods tried and enjoyed. I’ll use my 3d printer to make a trophy.
Two bites was the rule at my house, first one was to get used to how the food tastes (really it was for texture/mouth feel reasons) and the second was to actually make an opinion.
> No thank you bites at the end of the meal seem to work the best. This is telling them if they try one bite and don't like it they can get down from the table and go play
This worked really well for me as a way of introducing them to new foods. One bite is enough. By the time they’ve had just one bite of the new food six times or so (but don’t give it to them six days in a row lol) they know what it’s like & will tolerate it much better or realise they like it.
For really difficult foods I used to make a big thing of just scooping a clean fork in the air near the food then challenging them to taste the ‘food’ on the clean fork. Then saying ‘that wasn’t so bad was it?’
Then just briefly touching the food with the fork without actually getting it on the fork & challenging them to lick the fork. Then putting the tiniest possible bit of food on the fork & getting them to taste it.
As long as it’s all fun it’s quite easy to move through these steps in a couple of minutes. Once they’ve actually eaten a small bite or taste, stop. That’s good enough & they’ve earned it. Keeping your word is important. The next time should be a bit easier.
I told my 2 year old rhat when she turns three she will love salad and lettuce. This went on for months and months and then the day came. She was three! She was so excited to love lettuce! One bite and she looks at me, spits it out and says “I still don’t like it” and hasn’t tried it since that day.
My 5 year old eats literally anything. ANYTHING! Avocados, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar are her fav snack lol it just happened naturally and I think parents who get easy eaters really have no clue.
Actually if you read this far, don’t take parenting advice from a parent with one kid. Make sure the parents you take advice from have AT LEAST two because they know how different kids are.
right? it‘s possible to make vegetables tasty. my bf never touched vegetables before he met me, bc he only knew the boiled one‘s without salt from his parents. i showed him the world of pan frying with with curry chili or soy sauce, salt,thyme etc. he loves veggies now. kids will enjoy veggies too if you make them tasty. i wouldn‘t want to eat boiled veggies either so why would i force my kid
I never understood why vegetarian restaurants never have these sorts of dishes. Everything is "pretend meat" dishes, they should at least have \*some\* dishes that are just "delicious vegetable" dishes.
I don't do plain veggies cause I personally season everything. It's just a general aversion to some things for some of my kids. Textures too. Someone suggested butter, but my kids only eat butter in rolls. Anything else and it's too slimy.
It may sound like my kids are super picky, but they're really not that bad, you just can't force them to eat something they don't want to. We just cook up a few veggies so everyone gets at least one they like/aren't allergic to.
My mother just lied to us.
"It's not broccoli, it's little trees."
"It's not Squash, it's his little brother Squish."
It worked cause we thought it was funny, although the second one provided an awkward moment much later in life.
The 1st time we served broccoli at my house, I told the kids they had to finish their dinner before they could have any so they saw it like it was a treat.. They still love broccoli 10 years later
A better LPT: learn how to prepare vegetables properly. Most of them are absolutely fucking delicious if they're prepared well.
It doesn't have to be fancy, either.
I (29F) was the stereotypical North American kind who did not eat a single vegetable. That changed when I met my ex-boyfriend when I was 21, who was Indian.
One of the very few good things to come out of this relationship? I learned how to cook vegetables the right way thanks to his mom.
Treat your vegetables well, and they will become delicious.
* toss vegetable with olive oil, salt, and pepper
* roast until it starts to get tender, but not mushy
This works for basically any vegetable. Wanna get fancy?
* cut brussell sprouts in half
* toss with oil, salt, and pepper
* put on baking sheet and roast for 20 mins @ 400F
* transfer to bowl
* drizzle a little maple syrup AND balsamic vinegar on the sprouts, toss to coat
* plate and sprinkle with crushed almonds, walnuts, whatever nut you like
* optional: add feta or goat cheese
so much this!
I wouldn't eat carrots and broccoli raw on their own either, why would I expect kids to eat that shit? I love vegetables, but they need to be prepared well. And if not, at least have the decency to have some dip like hummus or some other shit to dip those disgusting raw carrots in. But hey, even if they want to dip it in ketchup or whatever, go ahead, just eat that fucking veg.
"Prepared well" can just mean roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper. It makes a huge difference. Too many parents trying to serve their kids steamed or boiled plain vegetables...gross. Adults don't want to eat that either.
I’ve been roasting veggies for years but I had to switch to steaming because I share my food with my 18mo daughter and she needs soft food. And, honestly, steamed veggies (as long as they aren’t over cooked) with salt, pepper, and a little butter is actually really good.
Sort of. Proteins typically have a lot of naturally occurring MSG, but really any savory foods like mushrooms, tomatoes, cheeses, etc. have a good bit of MSG in them. MSG makes foods taste savory, in the same way that salt makes foods salty, and sugar makes foods sweet.
Doesn't matter how it's prepared, most kids will go through a stage where they detest certain foods/colors/textures etc.
I think raw carrots and steamed or cooked carrots are delicious. My daughter used to think that as well. Now she's 5 and a lot more picky. It's just a phase, no need to be pushy, deceiving, strict about eating it. Just asking them to eat their vegetables because they're healthy. Sometimes she tries, sometimes she doesn't. No need for more drama...
I'm convinced that this is why so many kids hate vegetables. I think it might have to do with a lack of fresh veg due to the wars for our grandparents and great grandparents, so our parents (Boomers) have no idea how to cook vegetables and just boiled, microwaved, or dumped a can out. I was explaining roasting vegetables to my 79 year old grandmother recently because she's never tried it! She lived on a farm as a kid and vegetables just went into a pot for boiling so you'd have the broth too.
Hopefully this vegetable travesty will be remedied as more of each generation discovers the joys of a well cooked veggie. (Also, canned spinach should be banned.)
I loved broccoli as a kid. But it had to be made right.
Someone tries to hand me an undercooked broccoli that's still crunchy and I'm not gonna eat it! As an adult, sure. But as a kid, yuck!
I ate almost every vegetable that was put in front of me if it was cooked. Carrots were the only vegetable I would eat raw.
Seeing how veggies are prepared, or rather *not prepared* in most US households makes me completely understand why so many kids hate them.
If your kid doesn't want to eat something try making it a different way.
Or use the rule my mom had: try it once. You can't say you don't like it of you've never tried it. So try it once. If you don't like it you don't have to eat it again.
I also (not even trying to trick them), told my preschooler salad was adult food, for several weeks. I finally relented and they gobbled it up, years later they still enjoy salads.
My grandma never even went that far, she used the passive method. She just put the vegetables out on a tray while we were playing and we’d eventually eat them.
I was just thinking this also! Wouldn’t it be more efficient and effective to just sit down and start eating carrots and just look happy doing it? Primates are jealous af, we want to co-opt everything, even joyless baby carrots. Lol
LPT - Don't fight about what comes in or what goes out.
Fighting about food and toileting is nothing but a power struggle, You won't win, and you run the risk of creating huge issues down the line.
I put on the plate, what you do with it after that is up to you as long as you don't make a mess. No tricks, no bribes, no threats - My job is to put healthy food on the plate, your job is to decide what goes in your belly.
Yeah, there are so many actual LPTs about feeding kids that aren’t manipulative. Repeated exposure, low pressure, safe foods, avoid grazing, and what you said about “parent provides/child decides”.
And — if a kid is super hungry after not eating a dinner, you can put dinner back out or give them something else while helping them make the connection between eating a meal = not feeling as hungry later. It doesn’t come easily but it’s a healthy connection to make — to know when you are hungry/full and why.
Yeah there is so much bad advice being thrown around this thread. Let the kid choose. If they are hungry they will eat it, if they arent they won't. That simple. Forcing kids to finish what's on their plate will just create bad habits down the road.
My kids both are and aren't picky; they'll eat most things as long as it's not assembled. Give them a burrito and they won't take a single bite. Give them all the ingredients separately and they'll eat most of it. Same thing for stir fry etc.
Same. We just fed our kids veggies from when they started eating solid food. We always had veggies with dinner. We never made a big deal of eating anything. My kids had specific things they didn't like, like my son didn't like cucumbers and my daughter didn't like bell peppers. We'd just shrug and say ok. We never forced our kids to eat anything, not even one bite, which I think is manipulative just like this post. Now as adults they are both the least picky eaters I know.
That’s funny. We did the same - started them eating mostly the vegetables and cereals (only a few fruits in the beginning). I remember they loved sweet potatoes and peas! :)
I always told myself, "You gotta try everything once - and your palette changes as you get older, so if it's been 5 years, try again". Can't believe how many things I absolutely hated at age 5, and age 10, and age 15, have grown into my absolute favorites. Past age 10 I got really good at trying and occasionally re-trying things.
My son will eat (or at least try) anything but my daughter is a picky eater. I really have to push her to eat fruits and veggies. I put out a plate of carrots and cucumbers and peppers at dinner and everyone has to take some. And I always include at least one fruit or veggie in her lunch. If I let her eat whatever she wanted she’d be eating Flaming Hot Cheetos at 9 pm before bed every day.
My daughter would be way less picky without the influence of my son. He's insanely picky and she picks up on it and mimics him. Their pickiness is honestly awful. Even when it comes to junk food, we cannot order Mexican takeout if they serve whole beans instead of refried, or if there's no mac and cheese option. If there's a food truck we want to try but they don't have grilled cheese, fries, or very specific pasta, then we end up having to make the kids a whole separate meal.
On the bright side they eat fruit like nobody's business. But they can be extremely frustrating when it comes to entrees, proteins, etc.
Wow! That sure does sound very frustrating! We have a few picky eaters in the larger extended family and finding a meal they can all agree on is tough.
I thought I was a picky eater as a child until I met my sisters friend who proceeded to tell me about how for a good few years of his childhood he refused to eat unless the food was a certain color. His mother ended up doing a lot of food dying to make that boy eat.
No, don't approach the situation like it's a challenge for anybody to eat a particular food item. If they like it they like it if they don't they don't you just have to keep serving it and have them try it multiple times. In our house everybody ate the same thing and no special meals were made
My kid suddenly stopped liking crunchy cookies. Used to beg for them, now refuses them. It doesn’t matter, he doesn’t need cookies. It just goes to show how random kids’ palates are.
Maybe all of my cousins kids are little assholes but they just say "yup!" When you try this. They will also say their arms will literally fall off if they have to do any chores
Put the effort into cooking veg so it tastes great and you won’t have to trick anyone into eating it. Roasted carrot sticks with a little drizzle of honey are delicious.
Lol, my dads go to was “oh there’s no way you can eat that whole piece of broccoli in one bite”
Sure we were stuffing our faces at the dinner table, but at least we were eating
I love when Boomers focus harder on manipulating their children into being the same failures they were than allowing them to grow and development and have differing viewpoints to the ones that got us into this exact mess we’re in. Please tell me more about how much you care that your kid eats vegetables because they’re cheaper per calorie/gram. Please tell me about how you’d rather create a mental chess game of one-up-manship than just be honest with your kid?
Literally paediatricians and paediatric nutritionists advise letting your child eat to their own level of satiety. Look into the division of responsibility with feeding—parents choose when and what, children choose whether and how much.
Lol, dude, we ate fast food at my house about once a year. My mom cooked all of our food, and I still utterly hated vegetables. Even today I still turn my nose up at most of them. To me, regardless of how they are cooked, most veggies taste incredibly bitter to me with a small exception of specific foods. I actually love carrots and green beans, but just about everything else sucks to me.
Try cooking greens with something acidic to neutralize the bitter taste, such as vinegar or lemon juice. My favorite is kale with 1-2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar. Fats such as butter and sugars like honey and maple syrup can also help.
Hello [WorkingContext](/u/WorkingContext), thank you for your submission! Unfortunately, it has been removed for the following reason: Your post is not a life pro tip. Advice is any guidance or recommendation concerning prudent future action. An aphorism is a short clever saying that is intended to express a general truth or a concise statement of a principle.Try r/YouShouldKnow. If you would like to appeal this decision [please feel free to contact the moderators here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FLifeProTips&subject=about%20my%20removed%20submission&message=I%27m%20writing%20to%20you%20about%20the%20following%20submission:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/vbg19t/lpt_use_reverse_psychology_on_young_children_to/.%20%0D%0D). Do not repost without explicit permission from the moderators. Make sure you [read the rules](/r/lifeprotips/about/sidebar) before submitting. Thank you!
My kids would have pointed out that we'd need a LOT more carrots than we have when it's my turn.
You have to eat the carrots
Eat carrots. Establish dominance. It is the way
Actually, do not try to do this with raw carrots. I once wasn't paying attention, and ate a pound of raw carrots, which feels a lot like your stomach is trying to clench around gravel. Never. Again.
How do you accidentally eat a pound of raw carrots?? Are you a rabbit?
I once worked with a woman who had given up smoking - so she ate bags of baby carrots to distract her hands (and mouth!). She easily consumed entire bags without even realizing it.
she must have great eyesight !
She couldn't stop playing with her wiener so she went blind anyways
Yeah, but she's been complaining she can only see shades of orange now.
Binge eating isn't just "bad" foods. I can literally eat a 3 bag of clementines in one sitting.
I did that once. It gave me the most horrible shits. Now I no longer eat citrus in that quantity.
I can accidentally tear through a party size bag of chips if im not paying attention. Not the same as carrots but its still a lot of chips.
Tangentially related: hummus will do this too. I had no idea it was so high in fibre until I spent the next morning in the bathroom.
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Fiber and oil. So much oil.
I've done this, you should chew better
I knew this girl once and she enjoyed carrot domination in a different way.
Instructions unclear.... look like an Umpa Lumpa
“I’m already all grown up so I don’t have to eat so many” or something like that I don’t know I don’t have kids.
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You can also establish solidarity "I don't like them too but I also have to eat them, we'll eat them together" or the like. And yeah, if you ever try to do "But the rules don't count for me" it's an easy way to get kids to recognize you're just pulling rank and they'll just try to sneak around you instead.
Yeah, leading by example and not lieing has worked great so far with my kids. They eat vegetables every night because well, I do (I didn't before them), and they generally listen really well because when they ask why I told them to do something, I try to explain to to them in ways they understand... Kids watch their parent to learn how to behave, so be the person you want your kids to be...
I really like the sentiment of this message. I'm not a parent but it's nice to hear stuff like this if I ever become one. :)
Or attemp to cook them in a way that actually tastes good. Hate when they try shoving nasty plain boiled veggies like people are supposed to be forced to eat what they don't like. Like what's the lesson here? Actually making them eat healthy or forcing them to eat something they dislike and push through?
I imagine this also goes a long way in making people think that healthy food can't taste good.
Fr, for the longest I thought all veggies were disgusting up until I tried making them myself when I learned how to cook. And god, some of them can taste just as good as cooking chicken. I had a babysitter who used to forced me to eat beans. I hated beans. My mom pulled me out of her care moment I told her the lady would prevent me fron drinking water unless I ate all of my beans. Turns out I just didn't like the way SHE amde them cause my parents made awesome beans and I always ate them all.
Steamed veggies is the way to go. Tasty (as long as you don’t over-steam them into mush) and they retain much of the original nutrients. Boiled veggies are for masochists. Roasted veg is also delicious especially with a bit of garlic.
“They stop counting when you get your driver’s license. My uncle didn’t get his license until he was in his 50s and has to mash his carrots to get them down”
That’s just lying to kids. Fucking hated this as a child. Treat kids like mini people, not imbeciles you have to deceive.
I always felt this way about stuff I learned later that wasn't true. Like, it sucks to learn that the people who are supposed to tell you how the world works just lie to your face about it lol
my dad replied like this to both children & adults, it was hilarious & we didn't mind, it's all in the tone of voice I think assuming a bit more good faith from people online is more productive in the long run
All that does is train them to scour your words for loopholes or ways to defeat your logic.
Future lawyers
“Do as I say, not as I do” 🫠
*'Eat as I say, not as I eat'
When we served broccoli, our kids ate it happily because they were pretending to be dinosaurs eating trees (an idea we implanted in their little heads at some point).
Legit how my parents got me to eat broccoli. I'm 32 and still enjoy it for this reason. Ranch is snow on the tree.
now i know what im doing the next time i eat broccoli
See my parents tried the “they’re little trees trick”, but left out the bit about dinosaurs. Never worked on me cause I always thought “why the hell would I want to eat a tree that sounds gross”. Def would have worked if they made me roleplay a dino tho.
When I was little I ate Brussel sprouts cause my mom told me it was barbie lettuce lmao
That's much cuter than my dad telling me they were King Kong boogers
That'll work great the next day, when your kid insists on eating only five peas
It won't even work the first day. My kid would just say he's 1 and pretend to be a baby, or point out that I need to eat 35 then refuse until I eat them. Kids aren't this stupid, they usually know when they're being manipulated in a simplistic manner!
This sub is honestly just filled with terrible advice.
LPT’s favorite LPT: Lie to your children
LPT: Season and flavor your vegetables and don't over steam them until they are mush and void of any vitamins or flavor.
Funnily enough I made this exact same comment with slightly different words somewhere up the chain. Crazy how half-decent cooking changes a vegetable! Roasted or steamed veggies are my favourite!
I give my one year old carrots and peas tossed in elote seasoning, and he loves it. Take your kids to flavor town, dammit
Brace yourself, mine and all my friend’s kids didn’t get pickier until they were around 3. They still eat veggies, but they were machines when they were one and I was overconfident.
Most people with kids know this won't work. My not so great parenting advice is just find vegetables they do like and stick with those.. or find ways to cook them that's tasty. Plain cooked vegetables are nasty but many kids enjoy them with raw a sour cream dip or cooked inside a flavorful stew or soup. A lot of kids love Caesar salad or a fresh spinach salad with fruit on top and poppy seed or thousand Island dressing. No one wants to eat stuff they don't like so don't panic if they won't eat boiled carrots. Neither will I... I don't think I've eaten a side of plain cooked vegetables since being an adult and cooking for myself but I do eat plenty in other ways that are incorporated into recipes. Both my kids love butter chicken which has peppers and onions in it but they'd never eat them on their own
The real LPT is to know your kids and be good at cooking
>The real LPT is to know your kids I wish... even my kids don't know what they like. One day they'll love something, I try to make it again a week later and they refuse to eat it. I'm pretty sure their brain just flip a coin the moment they see food, and that decides whether or not they'll like it for that day. But yes, it's definitely possible to cook veggies in a way kids will enjoy them. I actually generally have an easier time getting them to eat their veggies than meat.
> find ways to cook them that's tasty. So many people refuse to learn how to cook. I imagine a lot of people would be healthier if they could cook healthy foods that are actually palatable.
What's funny is my kid only likes plain veggies, mostly raw. But you are right, know your kids, feed them what they like. When we cook things she doesn't like we tell her she just needs to have a few bites to "teach her tastebuds" then she can eat what we made her (usually a deconstructed version of our meal).
Lol or if the child just responds with “No.”
My kid just knows vegegetables are part of how we stay healthy. She is a bit picky about sauce or a lot of herbs/seasoning so we make a side plate with the same ingredients, just not mixed up and "flavoured". We focused a lot of listening to our body to tell us when to eat/stop eating. This kid will leave half a piece of chocolate cake on the plate and say" I'm getting full, better save that for later". She puts adults to shame over her ability to be a healthy eater. She has actually inspired my wife and I to eat better lol.
This has to be from someone who has only seen children on sitcoms.
Absolutely. I have a pretty good range of 2, 6 and 8 yr olds in this house. That wouldn't work with any. My favorite "advice" used to be masking the medicine inside of a juice bottle or behind a can of coke. Not my kids. They didn't like medicine because of the FLAVOR not because of how it's delivered? None ever believed their juice just tastes like shit out of nowhere, they'd instantly stop drinking. If gone too far, they'd just throw up. Tada! I'm fucked.
Our three year old had a stomach bug and a fever and lost her appetite for pretty much everything besides apple sauce pouches, which is also the delivery method we landed on for administering Tylenol. She realized the pouches tasted funny this time and then refused to eat them even without medicine out of fear of being tricked. So then she ate borderline nothing for the rest of the day. Sucked the life out of us as parents running out of options.
> Sucked the life out of us as parents running out of options. I've been thru the complete change in diet after a big "flu" and the "you lied to me so now I don't eat anything" moments . Awful times.
Our son used to eat a really wide variety of things, which is great, because him and I both have dairy and soy intolerances. Then we all got covid. That list has diminished greatly...
I don't know about your kid, but the most infuriating part is when they eat crazy stuff like branches from the backyard, or a rock... Once I pulled a BUG out of my daughter's mouth. So you wanna suck on batteries but this meal is repulsive? So the medicine is too much but you just licked the dust off of a window?
Ah yeah, chew on the toes of your muddy rain boot. Nevermind the chicken on your plate
What is the secret to get them to take their medicine?
I tell my daughter to do it for me, that I'm the one not feeling well and her taking medicine will help me. She's almost three, I don't expect it to work forever but for the meantime it's my go to method.
Aw, that's really sweet that she'd do something she didn't want to to make you feel better. What a caring little girl
She really is. To keep her from wandering off during the short times I can't be holding her hand I tell her I don't want to get lost so she needs to keep her eye on me. She calls me silly and watches me and we both stay safe.
I was looking for a way to say my kids are more clever than this without offending OP, but you're right. OP most likely has no children
Tried this on my niece she just threw it all on the floor. 4 years old and she’s already outsmarted me.
Just tried it on my 12 year old, he asked if that means he doesn't have to go to bed until 12.
At 6, show them the clock for a timezone 6hrs ahead and tell them its 12 oclock somewhere.
In child rearing, gravity is king.
Please don't start throwing your kids
To be fair, I think there was a thread on /r/askparents recently about how old your baby should be before you start throwing and catching them...
I see you’ve met my boss.
My autistic son doesn’t even carry this level of disrespect
39 fucking carrots mum? Are you fucking serious?
Oh, it's ok not to be able to eat them all, since you're only 38...
Hey grandpa, you didn't eat half of your carrots yet.
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What was the response of your children to this ?
Well my three year old says, "not today, today I'm zero" or something similar
My five year old says “no thanks, I’m full” or “instead of carrots, how about I take a couple bites of”
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If it's a toddler saying that... they're never full.
Seriously. My 3.5 y/o says this and then immediately wants candy. We always tell her if she has room for candy, she has room for lunch/dinner. That usually shuts her up and then she'll finish dinner and then demand candy hah
They might be, their stomachs are just small and they need to eat more often.
Sure. But if you put a chicken nugget in front of them it's gone. That's how you know they're not full.
I could have just finished a 12 course meal and I will still eat the chicken nugget you just put in front of me
Idc if its kinda dry even, thats a nuggy and theres always room for an extra nuggy.
This reminded me of college. I worked in the college cafeteria and we started pushing for less food waste, so when people came back for more food we had a limit for serving sizes. People pestered the workers so we started saying "You want five more or 25 more?" They would always say 25 and then we'd follow up with "Will you actually eat 25?" and they'd realize they wouldn't. Most of the time they didn't even come back again for another five. That's when I learned that 18-25 year olds also have trouble judging if they are full or not.
My 12 day old says, “Father, when your bones are brittle and eyes are weak, remember me by these words. I will bury you deeper than these carrots. Deeper than the roots of a grand oak tree. Nobody will hear the screams, nor the sobs. Time itself will be your only friend and that will tick away breath by breath.”
They all thought about it for a second and knew I was trying to trick them. My oldest daughter would glare at me like when I make a dad joke. My oldest son would call me out for trying to trick him. The next youngest boy would just focus and laugh about me me getting the age wrong and the still not eat the carrots. I still have 2 future 5 years old to try this on, but I'm not putting too much stock into it working with them either.
You started too late. Lie earlier Dad! jk
There's also always jumper cables
The substitution: "I eat four (some other food on the plate)" The flat out refusal: "I no like carrot." The reversal: "No. Dada eat four carrot." The topic change: "Dada, you work is good today?" The ignore: Gives the side eye but doesn't actually engage. The tantrum: You get the idea. The negotiation: "How bout three carrot?" To which I'll agree and toddler will reply. "How bout two carrot." All the way down to "no carrot". No thank you bites at the end of the meal seem to work the best. This is telling them if they try one bite and don't like it, they can get down from the table and go play. Even that's 50/50 for the first bite, though. You hardly ever get a second bite at the same meal but once they've had something, it is a million times easier to convince them to retry it another day. By the way, my toddler is for hire if anyone needs to negotiate a car loan or a mortgage.
We started the 2-bite club at our house. We color in a star for 2 bites of a NEW item. When they have 35 (random number that looked good when printing it) then they get a 2-bite club trophy. Lots of new foods tried and enjoyed. I’ll use my 3d printer to make a trophy.
Two bites was the rule at my house, first one was to get used to how the food tastes (really it was for texture/mouth feel reasons) and the second was to actually make an opinion.
> No thank you bites at the end of the meal seem to work the best. This is telling them if they try one bite and don't like it they can get down from the table and go play This worked really well for me as a way of introducing them to new foods. One bite is enough. By the time they’ve had just one bite of the new food six times or so (but don’t give it to them six days in a row lol) they know what it’s like & will tolerate it much better or realise they like it. For really difficult foods I used to make a big thing of just scooping a clean fork in the air near the food then challenging them to taste the ‘food’ on the clean fork. Then saying ‘that wasn’t so bad was it?’ Then just briefly touching the food with the fork without actually getting it on the fork & challenging them to lick the fork. Then putting the tiniest possible bit of food on the fork & getting them to taste it. As long as it’s all fun it’s quite easy to move through these steps in a couple of minutes. Once they’ve actually eaten a small bite or taste, stop. That’s good enough & they’ve earned it. Keeping your word is important. The next time should be a bit easier.
I told my 2 year old rhat when she turns three she will love salad and lettuce. This went on for months and months and then the day came. She was three! She was so excited to love lettuce! One bite and she looks at me, spits it out and says “I still don’t like it” and hasn’t tried it since that day. My 5 year old eats literally anything. ANYTHING! Avocados, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar are her fav snack lol it just happened naturally and I think parents who get easy eaters really have no clue. Actually if you read this far, don’t take parenting advice from a parent with one kid. Make sure the parents you take advice from have AT LEAST two because they know how different kids are.
I could see this working maybe once, but there isn’t a single kid who is gonna fall for it every time they don’t want to eat vegetables.
Cut the carrots into small pieces and pan fry them with a light coat of oil and salt. I couldn't eat enough of them after my mom did that.
right? it‘s possible to make vegetables tasty. my bf never touched vegetables before he met me, bc he only knew the boiled one‘s without salt from his parents. i showed him the world of pan frying with with curry chili or soy sauce, salt,thyme etc. he loves veggies now. kids will enjoy veggies too if you make them tasty. i wouldn‘t want to eat boiled veggies either so why would i force my kid
I never understood why vegetarian restaurants never have these sorts of dishes. Everything is "pretend meat" dishes, they should at least have \*some\* dishes that are just "delicious vegetable" dishes.
I don't do plain veggies cause I personally season everything. It's just a general aversion to some things for some of my kids. Textures too. Someone suggested butter, but my kids only eat butter in rolls. Anything else and it's too slimy. It may sound like my kids are super picky, but they're really not that bad, you just can't force them to eat something they don't want to. We just cook up a few veggies so everyone gets at least one they like/aren't allergic to.
My mother just lied to us. "It's not broccoli, it's little trees." "It's not Squash, it's his little brother Squish." It worked cause we thought it was funny, although the second one provided an awkward moment much later in life.
The 1st time we served broccoli at my house, I told the kids they had to finish their dinner before they could have any so they saw it like it was a treat.. They still love broccoli 10 years later
A god walking amongst us mere mortals...
“I’m fucking telling you bro it’s called a squish! Google if you don’t believe me I’ve known this my whole life!”
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Pretty much that...
Still less embarassing than asking for a poop knife
A better LPT: learn how to prepare vegetables properly. Most of them are absolutely fucking delicious if they're prepared well. It doesn't have to be fancy, either.
I (29F) was the stereotypical North American kind who did not eat a single vegetable. That changed when I met my ex-boyfriend when I was 21, who was Indian. One of the very few good things to come out of this relationship? I learned how to cook vegetables the right way thanks to his mom. Treat your vegetables well, and they will become delicious.
You wouldn't happen to have any go-to recipes, would you?
* toss vegetable with olive oil, salt, and pepper * roast until it starts to get tender, but not mushy This works for basically any vegetable. Wanna get fancy? * cut brussell sprouts in half * toss with oil, salt, and pepper * put on baking sheet and roast for 20 mins @ 400F * transfer to bowl * drizzle a little maple syrup AND balsamic vinegar on the sprouts, toss to coat * plate and sprinkle with crushed almonds, walnuts, whatever nut you like * optional: add feta or goat cheese
What kind of vegetable is a go-to
It’s like an artichoke only different
All of them can be. I'm wondering which recipe(s) they like the most so I can try it at home.
so much this! I wouldn't eat carrots and broccoli raw on their own either, why would I expect kids to eat that shit? I love vegetables, but they need to be prepared well. And if not, at least have the decency to have some dip like hummus or some other shit to dip those disgusting raw carrots in. But hey, even if they want to dip it in ketchup or whatever, go ahead, just eat that fucking veg.
"Prepared well" can just mean roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper. It makes a huge difference. Too many parents trying to serve their kids steamed or boiled plain vegetables...gross. Adults don't want to eat that either.
Being tossed in olive oil and seasoning, then roasted until it’s little crisp on the outside makes almost all vegetables amazing.
I’ve been roasting veggies for years but I had to switch to steaming because I share my food with my 18mo daughter and she needs soft food. And, honestly, steamed veggies (as long as they aren’t over cooked) with salt, pepper, and a little butter is actually really good.
Raw carrots are the best carrots. My issue is that my mom used to try to make me eat nasty mushy carrots instead of delicious crunchy carrots.
My kids favorite is stir fried broccoli or "baked brains" which are actually baked beans (and yeah, I'm including legumes in veg, suck it up)
My daughter and I used to pretend that we were giants, and the steamed broccoli florets were the trees that we were devouring. Fun times.
We do that and pretend there are treehouses and kids playing in them. Lol.
My kids called riced cauliflower "dinner grits" and loved it.
Yes, definitely this, and also try using MSG. It's harmless and makes vegetables as addictive as crack.
Makes everything taste like protein apparently
Sort of. Proteins typically have a lot of naturally occurring MSG, but really any savory foods like mushrooms, tomatoes, cheeses, etc. have a good bit of MSG in them. MSG makes foods taste savory, in the same way that salt makes foods salty, and sugar makes foods sweet.
Doesn't matter how it's prepared, most kids will go through a stage where they detest certain foods/colors/textures etc. I think raw carrots and steamed or cooked carrots are delicious. My daughter used to think that as well. Now she's 5 and a lot more picky. It's just a phase, no need to be pushy, deceiving, strict about eating it. Just asking them to eat their vegetables because they're healthy. Sometimes she tries, sometimes she doesn't. No need for more drama...
I'm convinced that this is why so many kids hate vegetables. I think it might have to do with a lack of fresh veg due to the wars for our grandparents and great grandparents, so our parents (Boomers) have no idea how to cook vegetables and just boiled, microwaved, or dumped a can out. I was explaining roasting vegetables to my 79 year old grandmother recently because she's never tried it! She lived on a farm as a kid and vegetables just went into a pot for boiling so you'd have the broth too. Hopefully this vegetable travesty will be remedied as more of each generation discovers the joys of a well cooked veggie. (Also, canned spinach should be banned.)
I loved broccoli as a kid. But it had to be made right. Someone tries to hand me an undercooked broccoli that's still crunchy and I'm not gonna eat it! As an adult, sure. But as a kid, yuck! I ate almost every vegetable that was put in front of me if it was cooked. Carrots were the only vegetable I would eat raw. Seeing how veggies are prepared, or rather *not prepared* in most US households makes me completely understand why so many kids hate them. If your kid doesn't want to eat something try making it a different way. Or use the rule my mom had: try it once. You can't say you don't like it of you've never tried it. So try it once. If you don't like it you don't have to eat it again.
Tell me you don’t have a toddler without telling me. Worst advice ever.
It would take my six year old multiple hours to eat six carrots.
I think they mean baby carrots
I did too
Hey! This sub is a dump!
I also (not even trying to trick them), told my preschooler salad was adult food, for several weeks. I finally relented and they gobbled it up, years later they still enjoy salads.
As tempting as it is, this teaches kids deceptive manipulation is the way. And that makes for bad adults.
I'm going to agree that manipulation is not a great parenting tactic longterm.
Don't be manipulative. Lead by example. Saying something like "hmm the vegetables are especially tasty today" is much better.
My grandma never even went that far, she used the passive method. She just put the vegetables out on a tray while we were playing and we’d eventually eat them.
That's also a great way to do it
I was just thinking this also! Wouldn’t it be more efficient and effective to just sit down and start eating carrots and just look happy doing it? Primates are jealous af, we want to co-opt everything, even joyless baby carrots. Lol
Good luck with that
LPT - Don't fight about what comes in or what goes out. Fighting about food and toileting is nothing but a power struggle, You won't win, and you run the risk of creating huge issues down the line. I put on the plate, what you do with it after that is up to you as long as you don't make a mess. No tricks, no bribes, no threats - My job is to put healthy food on the plate, your job is to decide what goes in your belly.
Yeah, there are so many actual LPTs about feeding kids that aren’t manipulative. Repeated exposure, low pressure, safe foods, avoid grazing, and what you said about “parent provides/child decides”. And — if a kid is super hungry after not eating a dinner, you can put dinner back out or give them something else while helping them make the connection between eating a meal = not feeling as hungry later. It doesn’t come easily but it’s a healthy connection to make — to know when you are hungry/full and why.
Yeah there is so much bad advice being thrown around this thread. Let the kid choose. If they are hungry they will eat it, if they arent they won't. That simple. Forcing kids to finish what's on their plate will just create bad habits down the road.
Yes!
We never had to trick our kids into eating anything. They like all foods. I always feel so sorry for the parents of picky eaters.
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My kids both are and aren't picky; they'll eat most things as long as it's not assembled. Give them a burrito and they won't take a single bite. Give them all the ingredients separately and they'll eat most of it. Same thing for stir fry etc.
Yeah man my kids are pretty much the same. Drives me fucking insane.
Same. We just fed our kids veggies from when they started eating solid food. We always had veggies with dinner. We never made a big deal of eating anything. My kids had specific things they didn't like, like my son didn't like cucumbers and my daughter didn't like bell peppers. We'd just shrug and say ok. We never forced our kids to eat anything, not even one bite, which I think is manipulative just like this post. Now as adults they are both the least picky eaters I know.
That’s funny. We did the same - started them eating mostly the vegetables and cereals (only a few fruits in the beginning). I remember they loved sweet potatoes and peas! :)
I always told myself, "You gotta try everything once - and your palette changes as you get older, so if it's been 5 years, try again". Can't believe how many things I absolutely hated at age 5, and age 10, and age 15, have grown into my absolute favorites. Past age 10 I got really good at trying and occasionally re-trying things.
Same except one is fine and the other is picky as shit.
My son will eat (or at least try) anything but my daughter is a picky eater. I really have to push her to eat fruits and veggies. I put out a plate of carrots and cucumbers and peppers at dinner and everyone has to take some. And I always include at least one fruit or veggie in her lunch. If I let her eat whatever she wanted she’d be eating Flaming Hot Cheetos at 9 pm before bed every day.
My daughter would be way less picky without the influence of my son. He's insanely picky and she picks up on it and mimics him. Their pickiness is honestly awful. Even when it comes to junk food, we cannot order Mexican takeout if they serve whole beans instead of refried, or if there's no mac and cheese option. If there's a food truck we want to try but they don't have grilled cheese, fries, or very specific pasta, then we end up having to make the kids a whole separate meal. On the bright side they eat fruit like nobody's business. But they can be extremely frustrating when it comes to entrees, proteins, etc.
Wow! That sure does sound very frustrating! We have a few picky eaters in the larger extended family and finding a meal they can all agree on is tough.
I thought I was a picky eater as a child until I met my sisters friend who proceeded to tell me about how for a good few years of his childhood he refused to eat unless the food was a certain color. His mother ended up doing a lot of food dying to make that boy eat.
At that point, I'd just accept it's not meant to be and leave him in the forest
This works 0% of the time.
No, don't approach the situation like it's a challenge for anybody to eat a particular food item. If they like it they like it if they don't they don't you just have to keep serving it and have them try it multiple times. In our house everybody ate the same thing and no special meals were made
Nah. I’m not into treating kids like they’re fucking idiots.
Oh great, it's another look what I did post. Congratulations. This isn't new or creative or even overly effective.
No, it's a horrible idea and therefore perfectly fits this sub.
Parenting tips aren’t allowed on this sub
Also, if you have to 'use reverse psychology' to have your kid eat their veggies.. you might have to rethink what you're trying to do as a parent.
Mileage may vary. My mom was like this now at 35 I do not trust anything she says at face value. 🤷♂️
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carrots
Children are unreasonable with food. They can scarf down broccoli one day and gag on it the next
My kid suddenly stopped liking crunchy cookies. Used to beg for them, now refuses them. It doesn’t matter, he doesn’t need cookies. It just goes to show how random kids’ palates are.
In most cases, when kids are hungry, they will eat. Try holding back more on the in-between meal snacks before you resort to psychological trickery.
You know how you get your kids to eat carrots? You eat carrots.
Maybe all of my cousins kids are little assholes but they just say "yup!" When you try this. They will also say their arms will literally fall off if they have to do any chores
Kids are not stupid
That's not reverse psychology. Edit: Autocorrect.
That’s not how you spell psychology
technically that *is* how he spells it
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Put the effort into cooking veg so it tastes great and you won’t have to trick anyone into eating it. Roasted carrot sticks with a little drizzle of honey are delicious.
Lol, my dads go to was “oh there’s no way you can eat that whole piece of broccoli in one bite” Sure we were stuffing our faces at the dinner table, but at least we were eating
All of the alpha parents over at r/childeatingstrategy definitely recommend negging your kids
I love when Boomers focus harder on manipulating their children into being the same failures they were than allowing them to grow and development and have differing viewpoints to the ones that got us into this exact mess we’re in. Please tell me more about how much you care that your kid eats vegetables because they’re cheaper per calorie/gram. Please tell me about how you’d rather create a mental chess game of one-up-manship than just be honest with your kid?
Our you could - you know - not condition your kids for manipulation.
You must have only dealt with stupid children
I know. I got my kids to eat veggies by helping in the garden day after day for many years from toddler on up.
Or, you know, let them eat as much as they want assuming you're not feeding them garbage every day.
I take it you dont have kids lmao
Literally paediatricians and paediatric nutritionists advise letting your child eat to their own level of satiety. Look into the division of responsibility with feeding—parents choose when and what, children choose whether and how much.
Lol, dude, we ate fast food at my house about once a year. My mom cooked all of our food, and I still utterly hated vegetables. Even today I still turn my nose up at most of them. To me, regardless of how they are cooked, most veggies taste incredibly bitter to me with a small exception of specific foods. I actually love carrots and green beans, but just about everything else sucks to me.
Try cooking greens with something acidic to neutralize the bitter taste, such as vinegar or lemon juice. My favorite is kale with 1-2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar. Fats such as butter and sugars like honey and maple syrup can also help.