How I Get My Toddler to Eat Fruits and Veggies

I'm pretty passionate about making sure Jay gets his five servings of fruits and veggies in a day. I realize this sounds crazy coming form me because I hardly ever do, but it's important to me that my children get all the nutrients that they need, and that they grow up to be a lot more well rounded than me. 

Jay is two, and does know what cookies, ice cream, and chocolate are, so to say he has opinions about what he would rather eat is an understatement. During most meals you can find me behind the corner in the kitchen praying that he'll eat his fruits and vegetables, and the rest of his food for that matter. I wish that was an over exaggeration but it's not. I can frequently be found praying for Jay to eat his food. It's probably my most prayed prayer actually. 

Some days are awesome and He eats everything put in front of him and there aren't any issues. Those days however, are far and few between. So most days I have to pull out a few tricks to get him to eat healthfully. Some of these may seem nontraditional, unorthodox, and straight up gross, but whatever gets the veggies down right? If you're struggling with getting your kids to eat veggies, maybe these will help.

1. Bananas in the cereal: Jay loves eating Multigrain Cheerios for pretty much every meal of the day. While I usually only let him eat them for breakfast, I can usually slice a banana in there and he'll eat it all up. Sometimes he'll push aside the bananas and it turns into a fail, but even then, sometimes he's just so hungry that he'll eat the banana after all the cereal is gone. 9 times out of 10, the banana is gone when he's done eating. 

2. Fruit Pouches: I know it's 10 times better to get your kid to eat the actual fruit or veggies than from a pouch, but sometimes seeing something in a fun package can get them to eat it, and most pouches count as 1 1/2-2 full complete servings of fruit and veggies. Unfortunately for us Jay woke up one morning and decided he was never going to drink a pouch again, but if your kid is still into them, I say go for it. Ps. him not eating pouches anymore was one of the saddest days of my life. 

3. Green Beans: Jay loves eating green beans and we actually have a rule in our house that if he watches a show on the TV he has to sit with some green beans and eat them. I know someone is going to email me saying you should never let you kid eat and watch TV at the same time, but whatevs. Green beans are like popcorn to this kid. Also, he loves dipping them in BBQ sauce at the dinner table, and I never stop him. 

4. V8 V-Fusion Juice: I know there are also people who are going to email me saying that you should never give you kid juice, but this stuff is liquid gold in my opinion and Jay drinks it everyday. It's a juiced blend of fruits and vegetables, and one eight ounce glass counts as two servings of fruit and vegetables. So if all else fails for the day I know I can count on him getting two of his five servings. 

Jay happens to have a lot of sensory issues with a lot of fruits and veggies, the crunchy things like apples, carrots, celery, etc... are too hard for him still, and he's actually getting a lot better with them, but on days when those normal methods are all too much for him, I'm glad to know we have these four little tricks to help him get the nutrients he needs!

Let me know what your favorite ways are to get your kids to eat their fruits and veggies! I'm always up for more tactics!