There's something really interesting I've noticed about parents, being one myself, and being in the business of feeding kids, and it's that we get this huge amount of pride and satisfaction when our kid eats their vegetables. Where does that come from? Do you think it's because we are always told to eat them growing up. So we've used this as an accomplishment.

Is it because we like feel some sort of ownership or maybe obligation to teach them and we feel like

we're fulfilling that duty when they eat the vegetables? Like it almost feels like a party trick

sometimes when you watch them eat a vegetable that you prepared, right? Like, they did it.

I honestly don't know the answer here.

I just know that we put a lot of pressure and burden on ourselves, especially as moms, you feel like

it's your job for them to eat well. And so you often will feel a sensation of success or failure

based on what they eat or don't eat at a meal. And veggies can feel like the

pinnacle of that success. It's something tangible we can point to that says, you're doing a good

job raising this tiny human. We don't get a lot of those moments throughout the day and they're not like,

thanks, mom, you're really doing a

great job. It never happens. Sometimes I say that out loud to myself, though, and my kids will kind

look at me, like, why are you talking to yourself? But every once in a while, especially now that

Teddy's a little bit older, when I'm like, thanks, mom, he'll say thanks, mom. So it works in the

long run. So the problem here, the veggie thing is that

as a registered dietitian nutritionist, I understand the full picture of their nutrition

and everything that goes into a child's healthy diet. And I know that they can still get what they

need nutritionally if they don't eat any veggies

or if they eat very few. And the reason I say this is a problem is because it's something that

we don't really know. This is something that should be like in a parenting handbook that no one

gets but we need to so that we don't feel crappy about

ourselves when our kids hate vegetables and love sweets, and maybe they love fruit, which is a

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