Children are picky. If you teach them to be. I am the mother of three, two of whom eat solids and one who is still nursing but about to start, and I follow the same routine every time, which has produced two children that will choose fruits and wait, brace yourself, veggies, over sweets, any day. So, how have I mastered this feat? Simple actually. I have not given my children the option to eat any other way. We started with veggies, not fruit, as veggies are less sweet. We then progressed to fruits, and so on. I also introduce the wackiest and most delicious veggies to my kids at a young age. I get all sorts of crazy looks from the moms at preschool when I pack my oldest a half an avocado for snack, but guess what, he loves it.

Fruits and Veggies are an adventure in our home. We grow them in our garden when the weather is appropriate, and imagine as a young child, how magical it is to plant a seed, watch it grow, and just a few short months later, picking the cucumbers, squash, tomato's, and eating them straight from the garden. My children's favorite activities are veggie and fruit centered. They loved to go to the farmers markets in the summer, and we apple pick almost once a week in the fall.

All ramblings aside, if you approach vegetables as a challenge, than they will be exactly that. Instead make 'em something special...zucchini bread is a treat in our house, as is zucchini on the grill, my kid eats beets, and mushrooms, guacamole is his all time fav, and never blinks, because I don't when I put them on the plate. Our favorite meal as of late is pasta with pesto we make fresh daily...which my son has adoringly nicknamed "Shreck pasta..."

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