Why would this work?
#1 They’re at their hungriest, just before dinner.
#2 The veg aren’t competing with other preferred foods on their plate.
#3 There’s no feeling of pressure on them to eat it – at all! They’re not even sitting at the table. So there’s nothing to react against. No power battle to engage with!

So what kind of things shall I give them?
Carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, weeny handful of still-frozen peas or still-frozen sweetcorn, pepper sticks, sugar snap peas, olives, celery sticks, avocado … anything you like! Don’t stick to veg they already eat happily – that defeats the object! But just a couple of different things each time is enough at first so as not to be overwhelming.

What if they don’t touch it?
It doesn’t matter. ‘Exposure’ to the veg – seeing it, smelling it, playing with it – is the first essential step. It’s not an overnight fix. Just keep doing it every single day with no expectation – until one day you notice they’ve sucked a cherry tomato, pretended a piece or pepper was their tongue or taken a bite of carrot and spat it out (That’s okay! After all, they bit it of their own accord!).

But isn’t it a waste of food?
A bit of wastage is inevitable – but we’re talking tiny amounts. It’s worth it.

Here’s feedback I’ve had from parents. 

“For three days he kicked off big time and brought the dish screaming to the kitchen behind me! Then he stopped kicking off but ignored the dish, now he plays with the food, and yesterday he actually sucked the juice out if a tomato.” (Jen)

“She loves the mini-starters. After only a couple of days, she was sitting down to watch TV when I started cooking dinner and asked where her ‘start’ was!” (Kate)

“The mini starter thing is working a treat! It took a few months to get to the point where they ate most veg I put in front of them. Now they’re eating all sorts and it’s so nice to see.” (Ellie)

If you like this, you might like How the #$%@&! do I get my child to eat vegetables.