As I may have mentioned in the past, my nine year old daughter does not and will not eat a single vegetable.  Ever since she was a toddler, I followed the suggestions of experts and continued to put vegetables on her plate at each meal with no discussion and no pressure or threats. The thinking is that eventually, as they mature and their palates develop, they will give it a try without the feeling that it is expected. That approach still has not worked…9 years later. Of course, I must confess to having used the screaming, yelling, threatening approach as well when I saw I wasn’t getting anywhere with the laid back thing. Needless to say, my daughter is possibly the most stubborn child on earth and I firmly believe that she would choose to literally starve to death rather than eat a single, solitary pea. She claims that she eats vegetables and cites corn as an example which I have explained doesn’t really count. There is one strange exception and that is edamame. They are soybeans, steamed in their pods, and are typically served in Japanese restaurants with salt sprinkled on the outside. You can pop them directly into your mouth and it is almost as if you are snacking on peanuts. I’m not really sure how these soybeans slipped through her radar but I shan’t look a gift vegetable in the mouth.

I struggle to feed my daughter a balanced diet since without vegetables and with a very limited number of fruits that she will eat, the pickings are slim. I feel guilty and we all know that when mother guilt strikes, it’s easy to lash out at the source. I know that harassing a child to eat something only makes matters worse and sometimes even leads to eating disorders, but I’m at my wit’s end. At this point, the whole thing is really psychology and habit because if she were blindfolded and there were vegetables mixed into meatloaf or pasta, she wouldn’t even be aware of the taste. Once her acute radar spots a foreign substance, it’s all over. On the rare occasions that I have bribed her (yes, bribed her) to taste a tiny piece of something, even if it’s dipped in ranch or hidden in mashed potatoes, she gags and practically brings up her whole dinner. It is really quite a show – I should probably sell tickets.

Fortunately, when all is said and done, my daughter is healthy and that’s the goal. She is not weak or undernourished and she is thriving at school. Yet still, I feel I have failed. I mean, the 2 lovely Obama girls LOVE their vegetables, they can’t get enough kale or spinach…where did I go wrong?! I know I am not alone in my chicken nugget world so for those of you in the same boat, take a look at this article and let it either inspire or further frustrate you…