Why do children hate vegetables?

Question

caring__1 · Accepted Answer

We tend to resist whatever we're told we have to do. No one likes obligations. If your partner told you that you had to kiss him as least 6 times a day, do you think you'd want to kiss him again? Many parents treat vegetables as something the kids have to eat in order to get sweet treats. Just get it out of the way (like chores). When we raise kids this way, they end up dragging anchors behind them.

If you want your kids to enjoy vegetables, let them help you in the garden. They're much more likely to want to eat what they grow themselves. You could also involve them in the kitchen. Do research together to discover additives and sauces that bring out the flavor of vegetables. Let them help you make those add-ons or create ones of their own liking. Let them grow sprouts. They are fast and delicious. Show them excitement when exploring and discovering, and they'll see it as exciting, also. Understand, these options work best when you start them as toddlers. If you wait till they're teens, they're less likely to want to do anything you want them to do.

Also, understand our taste buds get less sensitive as we get older. Foods like raw tomatoes are often too strong for young taste buds. Cooking the food, or using additives can take the punch out of strong tasting vegetables. By the way, I'm not saying a tomato is a vegetable; it is a fruit we treat as a vegetable.

Chazmatazz269 · Accepted Answer

Their bodies require more protein than other nutrients because they’re constantly growing. Also, smell and texture must be factors. Older kids are likely practicing some primitive example of anti-authoritarianism.
I dated a woman with two young kids for awhile. When we all sat down to eat together, the kids always left a fair bit of uneaten food on their plates. Eventually i asked her to stop serving me, and i just ate the kids’ leftovers. It wasn’t long before there were no leftovers. She treated me like i was some sort of demigod. Ell oh ell!
That’s seriously not even what i was aiming at. I just wanted to stop wasting food.

jennifer_bloom · Accepted Answer

I think the human body craves what it needs to survive. Children are growing new muscles so they crave meat and men have more muscle to maintain so they like steak. Women like salad and fruit because they crave high immunity and youth and fruit has vitamins that protect the body from stress and illness. When I used to be in school, I would always crave raw fish because my brain wanted nourishment, and my fish craving disappeared when I left school because I did less thinking in building my cognitive skills and expanding my mental capacity and intelligence. I also craved garlic when I had liver problems and I craved avocados when I was depressed and coffee when I was tired.

purplepoppy · Accepted Answer

It's a survival instinct to prevent them poisoning themselves and a lot of animals go through a similar stage. The brain selects a small list of edible things and everything else is avoided just in case it's poisonous. For some reason chips always make the yes list while Brussels sprouts rarely do.
Poisonous plants often have a bitter taste and children's taste buds are extra sensitive as a safety precaution. To a toddler that cabbage really does taste poisonous.

The problem is the parents then have to break that programming and a lot do a shit job

Daniela1982 · Answer

If a child was starving, he would love them. It just depends on how spoiled you are. I used to be told, if you don't like what you are being served, then you are welcome to leave the table and go to bed hungry. That or, I'll save it for you so if you get hungry later you will have something to eat.

oddwaffle · Answer

They taste very bad and have low nutrition to weight ratio. Human select the food that gives highest value of energy by instinct.

Sugary sweets stuff have a lot of instant calories so we like them. As we develop a taste for more complex foods, we begin to like fatty meats and similar calorie dense food.

NamerOfStars · Answer

Because most vegetables are at least somewhat bitter- and so are most naturally-occurring poisons. Things that an adult could eat and not even notice could be lethal doses to a child, so they're genetically predisposed toward avoiding them.

TonyV · Answer

Cause vegetables kind of suck ass and are an acquired taste. Kids don't care about what's good for them they want what tastes good and usually veggies don't unless you ruin them with chess/ranch/ketchup.

PBandJ_Nerd · Answer

Some kids don't because they're made to eat them. But a lot of us in my family did like to eat them. I seem to like vegetables a lot more than the rest of my sisters.

ericclayton · Answer

They say that since their palettes aren't developed yet, they are overwhelmed by the savory and bitter compounds that we learn to acquire a taste for later.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

... because their parents are bad at cooking? :)

Anonymous · Answer

Cause they taste like crap. Still do, as adults.

call_me_scar · Answer

Perception and sugary things just taste better

HippieVeganJewslim · Answer

because they're not fruity enough.

Iron_Man · Answer

We don like it at all until we grow up

DrawingBlanks · Answer

Cookies taste better.

Preeti161101 · Answer

Bad food habits

msc545 · Answer

Texture and smell

Why do children hate vegetables?

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