BEEing A Mom: A Campaign for Our Veggie Pals

I'd like to share a poem I wrote for all moms with kids who won't eat their veggies. I hope you enjoy!

A Campaign for Our Veggie Pals

Calling all mamas from near and far
From north to south to east to west
Come and join this noble quest
To smother veggie prejudice.

Come rally for veggies of all colors and sizes.
Please jump on the wagon for this grand campaign
To proclaim, defend, persuade, and explain
How veggies endured years of preschoolers' disdain.

Stand up and cheer for our beloved green pals,
For spinach, snap peas, and asparagus
For broccoli, string beans, and all sorts of lettuce
Oh, how they desperately do need us.

Let's also support our other friends.
Let's take to the streets, with our signs and our mottos
To represent beets, carrots, and tomatoes
Onions, eggplants, yams, and potatoes

Most veggies I know are hardworking and good-hearted,
But every so often a bad one spoils the bunch.
I'll only name one for which I won't munch.
Pssst . . . It's cauliflower--too bland to be in my lunch!

Moms across this great land of ours
Are weary and frazzled and full of dismay
Tired of begging and nagging and pleading each day
For kids to sample veggies on their dinner tray.

They've tried all the tricks in the modern books
From Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious
To The Sneaky Chef's recipes, creative and nutritious
But soon they discover these ploys aren't expeditious.

Every night at bedtime they read to their kids
A classic Seuss tale they hope will prevail
Of Sam-I-Am for whom moms all hail
As a master persuader who does not fail.

But as much as they hope and pray for a victory
Their little ones still snub yellow squash and zucchini
The kids whine and cry and make Mom feel like a meany
So she dreams of a lamp and three wishes from a genie.

It's time to take action and start a new movement!
We'll swap out their nuggets for bowls of peas
And pile on their plates mounds of lettuce leaves
Then serve them some broccoli and maybe some cheese.

We'll grin and exclaim, "Oh, what a treat!"
"Veggies are so, so good," we'll assert.
Then we'll hope that they finally convert.
And if they don't, then no dessert!