Question

What will happen if my 2-year-old never eats vegetables?

Answer

Although individual stories are not scientific information, I have to tell you that my stepson ate nothing green his entire childhood. He is now a gorgeous, healthy man whose favorite vegetable, introduced to him by an Italian girlfriend, is spinach with olive oil and garlic.

Just because he turns his nose up at vegetables now does not mean he will forever. Some children who refuse vegetables eat fruit, and remember that they are in the same food group pyramid category. You can puree vegetables into pasta sauces or soups, chop vegetables finely into the meat for tacos or on pizza, serve small pieces of raw vegetables that he can dip into ranch dressing as a snack, or offer him vegetable juice such as V-8 instead of fruit juice.

Try the sweeter yellow and orange vegetables such as sweet potatoes. Let him help tear lettuce for your dinner salad. He may be more likely to eat something that he has had a part in preparing.

By repeatedly offering a small serving of something you want him to eat without pressure from you he is more likely to eat it eventually than if you obsess about it.