Is it wrong to tell your children that Santa won't send them presents if they don't eat their vegetables? It works, but is it wrong?

It's wrong to badger kids into eating anything that they don't want to eat, period. And threatening them with harm because they don't eat a particular food is NOT CONDUCIVE to helping kids develop healthy eating patterns and a healthy body image. The trick to getting kids to eat things like vegetables is not to threaten or cajole them if they don't eat- it's to find creative ways to incorporate the food into dishes the kids actually LIKE and will readily eat. Ever heard of vegetarian pizza, for example? Even regular pizza has some nutritional value, because in most cases it's made with tomato sauce and vegetables in addition to meat and cheese. So that's one way. And I've never met any kid yet who didn't like vegetable soup, or tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch.

You can also get kids to eat vegetables at home if you involve them in the production process. If  you have the space, plant a vegetable garden in your yard, or put a pot or two with a tomato plant in it on your patio or deck. Kids usually love to help with gardening, because they like eating what comes from that.