It was a typical weekday evening and I found myself standing in front of the fridge, staring at a bag of carrots with a mixture of hope and dread. As a mother, I’m always trying to find new ways to get my toddler to eat her vegetables, and tonight was no exception.
I pulled out the carrots, washed them and started cutting them into little sticks, hoping my daughter would see them as the crunchy, delicious snacks they truly are. But when I presented them to her on a plate, she looked at me like I was asking her to eat a pile of rocks.
Undeterred, I tried to appeal to her sense of fun by making silly carrot shapes, but even that didn’t work. Next, I tried to sweeten the deal by offering her a dip, but she simply licked it off the carrot and left the vegetable behind.
As I watched her refuse bite after bite, I began to feel my confidence waning. But then, in a moment of desperation, I came up with what I thought was a foolproof plan. I leaned in close and whispered, “You know, if you eat your carrots, your hair will grow long and shiny, just like Rapunzel’s!”
My daughter looked up at me, her big brown eyes filled with skepticism. “But mommy,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone, “your hair is short, with white hairs, and not so beautiful. And you eat carrots!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her honesty, even though it stung a little. It was clear that my toddler was not going to be swayed by promises of fairy-tale hair, no matter how hard I tried.
In the end, I had to accept defeat and move on to the next battle in the never-ending war of vegetables. But when my daughter grows up and starts convincing her own children why they should eat the vegetables on their plate, I’ll definitely remind her of this story.
