I agree with everyone about picking your battles... but here's a little thought.

It's harvest time here in north america. We have every fruit and vegtable at it's best- quality and price. So many people are trying to get rid of veggies they can't use- just go to your local farmer's market and you may still be able to get a zuchinni as big as your thigh... or your calf (muscle, not beef!)

I often enjoy a harvest time meal of corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, boiled eggs, new potatoes, just fried mushrooms, fried zuchinni, fried red tomatoes, and every other vegtable of that kind my mother gave me. sliced cucumber and baby carrots, but peas and beansprouts are better- i'm making myself hungry. Cottage cheese goes really good with it. So, as you can see, i'm suggesting that if her only choice was one veggy or another, that she'd choose the ones she likes! Choice is so important at this age, but if it's between one veggie/ fruit and another, what better?

Just a yummy harvest time thought...

I Am's child.

Thanks everyone for the Ideas...

I will try to perservere with her
Thanks again

My youngest isnt all that keen on veggies at the moment, but she does love her houmous. Gets awfully messy, but as it's a pulse it counts as one of her "5 a day".

Have you tried pasta sauces? My friend hides carrots in her tomato sauce.

DO you have any friends with kids who love their veggies? Invite them round for a meal, or ask to eat round there.

One of my friends deliberately booked her DD into school dinners just so she would start to eat. Up until then she went round to a friends house once a week where her tiny wilful DD would eat normally. All the school dinners have worked a treat and she's a normal sized teenager now. Peer pressure has it's beneficial sides so see if you can harness it.

Try grow-you-own? Peas are VERY easy to grow, and very sweet and dont need cooking. Standing in the garden unzipping them into her mouth will feel very naughty but very tasty. If not, you get to eat them - just shrug, say "your loss" and have a healthy treat.

I agree with the others, dont pick food as a battleground, it's too important. Make like you dont care and then be as sneaky as you can.

My parents created a 'No thank you helping"   its the amount that you get when you would rather say No thanks... its just enough for a bit or so adn as long as I ate that we didnt get in trouble...  as long as she eats a bite or so it shouldnt be that big of a deal... even try meeting with her half way, say that you under stand that she hates certain veggies and she can pick ONE where she dont even have to eat the no thank you helping... I always hated spinach adn limabeans!

Hey there, It could be a phase ( I am sympathetic as my almost 4 yo is definately testing the waters at the moment!) It could be that she enjoys the power of control by refusing to eat as she knows it gets your attention! The bigger deal you make of it, the more likely she is to stick to her guns! Pick your battles, but never fight over food! They will never starve themselves! I always have talked about healthy foods and treat foods that we eat sometimes. My cherub knows which foods willhelp her body grow strong and healthy and which foods you can have as a little treat , but we don't have all the time. She will eat any veggie ( bar peas and corn) but isn't always keen on fruit. I offer her LITTLE bits along with other things. She will usually eat a liitle bit of fruit - only because it helps her body as she tells me. Try grating carrot, zucchinni, pumpkin into a spag bol sauce. If you cook it long enough, there is no way they can pick out the veg! My cherub hates potato, even chips, so the only way that happens is in a casserole chopped into minescule pieces. Have you tried getting her to help you cook dinner? My cherub enjoyed carrots after she helped peel them. She loved spinach after helping make spinach and riccotta canneloni for Granndma when she came to visit. She loves broccoli because she cuts some off to give to our bird when we are cooking it ( he loves it!) She loves sweet potato because she helps dig them up. She loves snow peas and Bok Choy because she helps pick  them and make the stir fry. She loves brussel sprouts because mum always tries to pinch hers, etc... etc... She loves spicy foods and has very amazing tastes- eg: feta cheese, havarti cheese ( Nannas cheese) and olives ( she has been known to ask for them as her dessert after dinner!) ground black pepper on her dinner and sweet chilli sauce! This is only because I have always had her helping me cook! Even if it is mixing or stirring. Good luck! Don't make it into a battle....it creates a bad connection with food... instead try some reverese physcology. Don't get ruffled. If she won't eat it, say, hmmm, you musn't be hungry tonight. Let's go and have a bath and go to bed. If she says later,""I'm hungry" tell her "Oh well maybe you should have eaten your dinner"and leave it at that. If she continues,tell her that her dinner is still in the fridge if she is really hungry, but if not she can wait util breakfast. Just don't make a big deal of it! Bribery is also a god thing, my cherub  loves frozen yoghurt and icecream so she can have a kiddy cone after she has eaten her dinner. i don't care if she can't eat it all, but as long as she has a good go at it, thats fine'! Good luck!

I wouldn't worry; I didn't eat veges when I was a kid either..It was made such an issue of, I'd vomit at the thought of forcing down a single pea! Now I love my veges; have done since I left home.

Its worthwhile trying to dress them up a bit or make them more exotic (thats what happenned when I was a teenager). My mother was an unimaginative cook & all her veges came out mushy & tasting like dishwater. I'd never had cauliflower cheese, broccoli, eggplant etc. When I was introduced to Cauliflower Cheese I was sold. I went vegetarian for a couple of years just to catch up on everything I'd missed! Lightly cooked broccoli in a stir-fry is yummy.. Sweet corn in tuna mornay... Sultanas, grated cheese & apple in a grated carrot salad is almost a dessert in summer.. When I was a kid, I didn't eat anything green, on principle (I'd seen how cheese went green with mould I guess).

When my own daughter was little she started to look like becoming a picky eater, but when she went to child care, she ate whatever she was served, along with all the other kids (so peer example/pressue is a good motivating force sometimes). In fact, I only tried veges as a teenager b/c my friends ate them.

Mostly, my message is; don't worry. She probably eats baked beans (beans is a vegetable), mashed potato & chips (potato is a vege), pea & ham soup (peas are vege), tomato soup (tomato is near enuff to vege). You can get away with adding a little of almost any root veg to the potato mash & she won't notice. Sweet potato especially is yummy that way. Once she's got sweet potato down as a nice flavour, it isn't far to pumpkin & parsnip, then carrots lightly braised in honey & butter. Cauliflower cheese can neatly lead onto mixing broccoli in it, then broccoli cheese straight up.

But even if she doesn't eat veges at all, with enuff fresh fruit & wholegrains, she'll be fine. Please stop making an issue of it; it really does only make it worse; I know 'coz I've been there.

Hi honey,

WOW, sounds to me as if your 4 yr-old is really testing the waters . .   I wish there was an easy way around this but sadly there isn't, at the end of the day it is going to come around to a battle of the wills . . .

Its a fact that no child will deliberately starve themselves, so please try not to stress . . Serve her food as usual and don't make a big deal out of it . .  If she refuses to eat it them tell her "oh well  that's your choice young lady but there will not be anything else to eat until the next meal time" . . Be firm and do not give in . . . Then once again offer her what everyone else is eating  .  . Eventually she will eat . . .

I went though this exact thing with my 9 yr-old when she was 5 . . It was a very stressful time for the whole family, however after a few weeks she soon learned that I was the one in charge and she slowly began to eat her veges . . Even now there are times when she will still try it on but it never works . . .

My daughter would eat breakfast and lunch but never tea . . Humans can survive on less . .. If you want to rule out a medcial issue then please take her along to your GP if that will help to detress you from worrying  . . .

Good luck  . . Cheers Kellz

Have you tried hiding them in her food? Does she like mashif so mash it with veggies i do this with my youngest as she dont like carrots or peas very much xxx