Which of these would you consider “eating a vegetable”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will give context later, just curious, of these foods, if your kids ate them would you have consider them to have eaten a vegetable?

Black beans
Small bits of onions, peppers, garlic cooked into the back beans
Small quantities of spinach (visible) stirred into another dish
Handful of spinach mixed into a berry smoothie (not visible)
Raw spinach as the base for a salad
Purple cabbage slaw
Corn
Avocado
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Mango
Mango salsa with red onions and cilantro visible in it
Slices of red peppers

Bold is what “counts” for my kids. I require minimum 5 servings of vegetables and fruits a day as recommended by pediatrician, which usually means 1 serving of vegetable with lunch and 2 with dinner. Other things on your list would count in theory (eg spinach in smoothie, spinach in dish) but it doesn’t sound like you are meeting the serving volume required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have a relative with a lot of anxiety about what her moderately picky kids eat. I am helping babysit her kids this weekend, and she has made me promise that they will eat vegetables every day, but has, in the past, gotten upset when the kids tell her what they are, because it doesn’t “count”.

So, just trying to figure out what she’s likely to object to.

All of the foods have been offered this weekend, plus other things. No one kid ate all of them.

Unless you’re getting paid for this, they eat what they eat.

[Anonymous]

The relative clearly does not have an true picky eater or they would be thrilled if the kid ate just one of those things one time.

[Anonymous]

You and the kids need to come to an understanding that you will place a spinach salad on the table with every meal and they will report to mom that they ate a nice heaping bowl of spinach salad and all will be fine.

Or a veggie platter. Yup, mom, I ate broccoli and cauliflower and radishes dipped in some hummus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

I have a relative with a lot of anxiety about what her moderately picky kids eat. I am helping babysit her kids this weekend, and she has made me promise that they will eat vegetables every day, but has, in the past, gotten upset when the kids tell her what they are, because it doesn’t “count”.

So, just trying to figure out what she’s likely to object to.

All of the foods have been offered this weekend, plus other things. No one kid ate all of them.

She probably is thinking of leafy green vegetables, or things like broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, etc.
Not starchy veggies like carrots, potatoes, corn or beans.
She probably doesn't consider onions and garlic or scallions as "counting" as a serving of vegetable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t promise her the kids will eat any specific thing. All you can do is offer the food.

OP here,

Part of the issue is that they are more willing to force vegetables than I am. Their approach is to put a meal, consisting of things their kids usually eat, on the table and tell them they have to eat it.

My approach is different. But I know their kids well enough to be able to predict what they will definitely choose, and what they might try, and so I can usually put a meal on the table where vegetables get eaten, except then I get told that what I served isn’t a vegetable, or doesn’t count because it wasn’t a full serving, or that hidden ingredients don’t count or whatever.

I should note that if I was alone with her kids, I would probably just do it her way, but my own kids are there eating the same meal, and I feel pretty strongly about not forcing them.

This is absurd. Tell this relative you are going to feed the kids the way you feed your kids. If that's not good enough, she can find someone else to kid-sit.

[Anonymous]

In our mostly vegetarian house the black beans would be a protein and the corn would be a grain. All the others count as veggies though. I put carrots/celery in ramen soup and consider it a veggie serving. DD can eat one packet and I put in about 5 baby carrots and a celery stalk ( diced)

[Anonymous]

If they eat raw vegetables, have a veggie tray in the house. It’s easier than cooking vegetables that they won’t eat, and they can snack on those as well. If mom is getting free child minding, she can back off.

[Anonymous]

I agree that this relative needs to just cope but I’m baffled and confused by the idea that mango and black beans would be vegetables under any definition.

[Anonymous]

Mangoes and tomatoes are fruits. Technically cucumbers and avocados are fruits too but I’d count them as a vegetable anyway since they’re green . But I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will give context later, just curious, of these foods, if your kids ate them would you have consider them to have eaten a vegetable?

Black beans
Small bits of onions, peppers, garlic cooked into the back beans
Small quantities of spinach (visible) stirred into another dish
Handful of spinach mixed into a berry smoothie (not visible)
Raw spinach as the base for a salad
Purple cabbage slaw
Corn
Avocado
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Mango
Mango salsa with red onions and cilantro visible in it
Slices of red peppers

Bold is what “counts” for my kids. I require minimum 5 servings of vegetables and fruits a day as recommended by pediatrician, which usually means 1 serving of vegetable with lunch and 2 with dinner. Other things on your list would count in theory (eg spinach in smoothie, spinach in dish) but it doesn’t sound like you are meeting the serving volume required.

Require??? Oh my.

[Anonymous]

I will offer veggies and fruit while babysitting, especially for an overnight, but I will not get into discussions about amounts. I will also feed them sugar cereal and send them home to you without a second thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will give context later, just curious, of these foods, if your kids ate them would you have consider them to have eaten a vegetable?

Black beans
Small bits of onions, peppers, garlic cooked into the back beans
Small quantities of spinach (visible) stirred into another dish
Handful of spinach mixed into a berry smoothie (not visible)
Raw spinach as the base for a salad
Purple cabbage slaw
Corn
Avocado
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Mango
Mango salsa with red onions and cilantro visible in it
Slices of red peppers

Bold is what “counts” for my kids. I require minimum 5 servings of vegetables and fruits a day as recommended by pediatrician, which usually means 1 serving of vegetable with lunch and 2 with dinner. Other things on your list would count in theory (eg spinach in smoothie, spinach in dish) but it doesn’t sound like you are meeting the serving volume required.

Require??? Oh my.

Yup! Have you not gotten the same recommendation from your ped?

[Anonymous]

If someone was making a big fuss about the kids eating vegetables, I would interpret that as mostly green vegetables: spinach, broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce, etc. Maybe a few non-green things like bell peppers or purple cabbage in the rotation, but overall I’d expect heavy on the green stuff.

I would not expect small amounts of diced onion or peppers mixed into a salsa or bean dish to “count”. I’d assume they are looking for something where the veggie is the main focus.

That said, the mom sounds nuts. When the kids are staying with your family, you can serve them what you would normally serve for your family. If their mom doesn’t like it, she can find someplace else for them to stay. Not reasonable for her to micromanage the meals when she’s not even there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will give context later, just curious, of these foods, if your kids ate them would you have consider them to have eaten a vegetable?

Black beans
Small bits of onions, peppers, garlic cooked into the back beans
Small quantities of spinach (visible) stirred into another dish
Handful of spinach mixed into a berry smoothie (not visible)
Raw spinach as the base for a salad
Purple cabbage slaw
Corn
Avocado
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Mango
Mango salsa with red onions and cilantro visible in it
Slices of red peppers

Bold is what “counts” for my kids. I require minimum 5 servings of vegetables and fruits a day as recommended by pediatrician, which usually means 1 serving of vegetable with lunch and 2 with dinner. Other things on your list would count in theory (eg spinach in smoothie, spinach in dish) but it doesn’t sound like you are meeting the serving volume required.

Require??? Oh my.

Yup! Have you not gotten the same recommendation from your ped?

DP. Do you make your kid sit there at the table til they eat everything? Or just make them take a bite or ?? Or do you have super easy/compliant kids who never resist?

I have 1 kid who is a great eater and will generally eat everything on his plate including vegetables and fruits. There are only a few vegetables—spinach and Brussels sprouts—he doesn’t like but everything else he’ll eat. I have another kid who would refuse and fight us on it for every bite so we typically just make sure she tries the food to see if she likes it and we’ll encourage by modifying the dish to make it more appetizing to her (serving w hummus or adding butter, salt, etc) but we dont force her to eat the whole serving.

So how do you go about “requiring” your kids to eat certain foods?