Many parents know what it’s like to deal with an obstinate child. Maybe you feel like your youngest is a contrarian, and “no” is their favorite word. That can be a problem at mealtime when you want them to eat something healthy, but all they want is pepperoni pizza and french fries.

If you’re a little clever about it, there are still ways to get some nutrients into your problem child. Let’s talk about five of those now.

Vitamin D3 Gummies

Kids often love gummies. Whether it’s worms, fish, or any other shape, you probably won’t have any trouble getting your child to wolf those down.

Luckily, some helpful person came up with the bright idea of vitamin-infused gummies. One thing you may want to investigate is Vitamin D3 for kids that comes in gummy form.

Kids need Vitamin D3 because it promotes healthy bone growth, and it supports immunity. If you look at the different D3 gummies on the market, you’ll want to find one that does contain any of the most common allergens.

You’ll also want one that doesn’t have any gelatin or artificial flavors. It’s best if it has as little sugar as possible, and if it comes in some tasty flavors your child enjoys, that’s ideal. You can give it to them as part of a meal and act like it’s a special treat.

Smoothies

You can also make your problem child smoothies if you find that they aren’t eating their fruits and veggies. All you require to make one is a blender or food processor and the right ingredients.

What’s so great about smoothies is that you can make them with almost anything, depending on what’s in season. You might go to a nearby farmer’s market and get locally-sourced strawberries, bananas, apples, kale, or whatever else you fancy.

Your kid might say a piece of fruit or a vegetable is yucky, but blend them together, and they will probably find it a lot more palatable. The one thing you may want to do is prevent them from seeing what goes into it. That might stop them from enjoying it.

Nutritional Shakes

Most kids won’t say no to a milkshake, and you can take advantage of that. There are nutritional shakes you can get from several companies that your child can have as part of a meal. Breakfast might be a cereal bar and a chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry protein shake.

You’ll need to shop around and see which one seems right to you. Boost and Ensure make some good ones, or you can buy them in bulk if you have a Costco membership. These are great for you as well, because you can open it, give it to your hungry kid, and it requires no cooking.

Veggie Fries

If your child loves french fries, you can take advantage of that. You can make fries out of a lot more than potatoes.

You can cut carrots into french fry shapes for a fiber and vitamin infusion. You can also try zucchini and other vegetables.

You do not need to deep fry them, either. You might toss them with a little olive oil, paprika, and sea salt. Then, you can put them in the oven and bake them.

Your kids are getting a low-fat side dish that’s good for them. Again, you may want to hide the cooking prep, so your kids don’t get wise to the scheme.

Veggie Nuggets

There are also many different frozen food varieties. You may not want to serve them to your kids that often, but they save prep time. The trick is finding healthy ones.

There are several veggie options that look and taste just like meat. Veggie “chicken” nuggets are one way to go. You can also find “chicken” patties and other snacks and entrees.

They are mostly soy-based. However, you can always look at the packaging before deciding whether you’ve found a suitable option. You can bring some different ones home for your child to try, and if they like some of them, you can purchase them regularly to have on hand.

Most kids grow out of the fussy stage. If they make it to adulthood and still don’t like eating healthy, they’ll often find that it catches up to them and they need to make some changes. The sooner they can adopt healthy habits, the better it will be for them. You should do what you can to promote that.