Q+A: How Can I Introduce My Kid to Vegetables?

Q: My 5-year-old son only eats hamburgers and pizza. Dinnertime is chaos. How can I introduce something green?

A: Start by serving more balanced meals to the entire family. And make sure that the dinner variety extends to chicken and fish along with some type of starch like potato or rice or pasta, as well as one or two vegetables. Make just enough of the entree so there's not enough for seconds and let your child choose which vegetable he'd like to have on his plate. Don't worry if he doesn't eat it. Some kids have to see a new food 15 times before it seems familiar enough to be edible. In the meantime, eat your own veggies, eventually he'll follow suit. But don't make special meals that let him off the hook and drive you crazy. Try not to panic if he goes to bed hungry occasionally, he'll get over it and wake up hungry the next morning.

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