Children Eating Vegetables. Epic Fail.

Ok, so here's the deal. I have been in the parenting game for 15 years and some change and my children do not eat vegetables.  I don't care if it's covered with cheese, put on a pizza, hidden in sauces or what not. They will not touch them.  Whose fault is it? Mine.  I am that type of mommy who buys the fun stuff in the grocery store,  Bagel Bites, Chips Ahoy, corn dogs, frozen pizza, etc.  It's not because they like them, it's because I do.  I praise Mary's Little Baby everyday for school lunches, because I find comfort knowing they have revamped the entire menu to make it healthy.  At least somebody's thinking of my children's nutrition.

Now I have to say I may have done one thing right in the fruit department because they will devour apples, oranges, bananas and grapes.  But if I even attempt to put a green, leafy item in front of them, shows over. Oh wait, I'll take that back, my oldest ate a Ceasar's Salad his group made in food science class.

The reason this is becoming such a dilemma now is due to one of my many recent trips to the Wal-Mart.  As I was standing in the frozen food aisle trying to decide between shoestring fries and seasoned fries, this lady and her two "fancy children" walked up to the frozen vegetable freezer behind me.  I then heard her 5 maybe 6 year old son yell, "Mommy, don't forget my brussels sprouts!"  Really kid?  Then her teenage daughter chimes in, "Oh yea mom, make sure to get the edamame. mmm."  What the...?  Then "World's Greatest Mother" throws 2 or 3 packages of each in their cart and they move on.

As I watch this crew through the reflection on the glass (all the while rolling my eyes and making childish faces) I thought to myself, what did I do wrong?  My 15 and 10 year old children, who never make trips to the grocery store with me by the way because they are too attached to the X-Box, yell out things like: "don't forget the Dr. Pepper or honey buns" as I leave the crib.  It's a miracle my two boys don't resemble the Klumps with the amount of junk we consume.

So, I have decided to make a New Year's Resolution after all.  I will make my boys eat vegetables. This will be particularly challenging with  my 10 year old since his diet has consisted of chicken nuggets, Totino's pizza and hamburgers for the past few months, but I'm determined to make this happen or he will be quite the slim one by  the summer.  Not to say I will starve my child, but I'm not sure how long one can sustain on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches alone.

All Recipes.com, here I come with my game face on.


photo source: http://flic.kr/p/NbEHs