Here's what worked: I stopped calling them vegetables and started calling them "power-ups." My 5yo now asks for carrot power-ups and broccoli power-ups. My 7yo rolled his eyes at first but he's eating them too. Peas are apparently "energy balls." It's dumb but it works and I'm not questioning it. Anyone else stumbled onto weird tricks like this that just... work?
I need to try this. My 5yo turned down chicken with green beans last night and I nearly lost it. Power-ups might actually sell it to him.
The power-ups thing is genius. My 4 year old calls broccoli little trees and actually eats them now. Framing is everything with young kids.
The psychology behind this is actually solid. Kids respond better to things that feel like a game or have a narrative. Calling them power-ups taps into that.
My kids now ask for power-ups by name which is hilarious but also kind of annoying at the grocery store because I have to decipher which vegetables they mean.
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Wait did this actually work long term or is this still in the honeymoon phase? My son got bored of my vegetable nicknames after like 2 weeks.