as of late, leif and sam have shown huge resistance to eating the meal that i have prepared for them. it's become a power struggle. for example, they sware they want "batman cheerios", so i pour them a bowl of batman cheerios to find that 10 minutes later, they are just chatting each other up about the latest superhero and haven't eaten a single bite! this usually results in me telling them (politely at first) that they need to eat. i'm usually met with, "but i don't want batman cheerios" (or whatever else they had begged for initially) "Whaa-, then why'd you ask for them?" ..."they make me sicky" "they're old" "i'm full" "i don't like them" " they're yucky" "i wanted pops" ..and any other excuse you can think of. i have tried everything to persuade them -tenderness, bribery, threats, the stuffing of food down throats (just kidding) they have even gone without. anyway, on to the main point. last night i'd had enough. so i cleared the table of everything -drinking cups, main dishes, butter, everything except the boys plates and the contents. after telling them they could not get up (or have a batman fruit roll-up) until they were all done with their dinner, Jared and i got up and left the table (big mistake, i was thinking they'd hurry and snarf their food so they could be a part of things...yeah, right). Jared sat on the couch and i took care of some things around the house in preparation for bedtime.
10 minutes later...
what you see is a mixture of "smashed potatoes", ketchup, "guys" (mind you i had put everything up but their plates...) and a measuring cup? how they got their "guys" in the mix...i'm not sure? AAAAHHHH, so frustrating...in the grand scheme of things they had successfully eaten everything else i guess...nevertheless, off to bath and bed they went...no fruit roll-up, they so know better than this. leif is 4 yrs old for crying out loud!!! anyone got any ideas? i'm all out.
ps i'm sure the taking of the picture sent mixed signals, but who gets the right idea unless there is a picture involved? ;)
10 comments:
Ahh you just made me realize I will be in that position in a few years;) I guess I'll have tolearn from you...sorry I have no advice, I'm not at that part of childhood raising yet.
Haha - that reminded me of me when I was younger. I have heard of all kinds of advice but I don't have any of my own. I can tell you leaving the table is a bad idea... I would often patiently wait for my parents to leave the table and when they were busy in another room sneak into the kitchen and put my food back in the pot. Then come back to my table with my clean plate and call for my parents asking if I could leave since I was done...I knew better than to put it in the trash because my Dad would check the trash can. I guess my point is that kids are sneaky and it sounds like you are doing the best you can. You are setting rules with consequences and sticking to those rules/consequences. Sorry, this got really long. If you would like to hear the other sneaky stuff I did let me know...
Ahhh, you gotta love what they come up with when parents are out of the room. Cooper and Grey are very scheming when parents are out of ear-shot.
Hmmm, about the whole "I'm not gunna eat what you make"... As far as what I've learned, they get what they are served. If they don't eat it, a couple meals missed never hurt anybody. (I sound heartless, huh) I just don't have the time or patience to make and re-make dinner.
yeah, i pretty much have no advice in that area. i still have to spoon feed maddie most of the time to get her to eat anything (and to keep the entire kitchen free from flying debris) PLUS I usually have to prepare about 10 things just to get her to eat one. I'm just glad after looking at your pic that she doesn't have someone around to egg her on. "common mom, boys will be boys."
Oooo, I so hear ya! Ezra's got to be the pickiest eater of all time...not to mention one of the messiest. He even eggs Georgia on in throwing her food off the tray. Guess I don't have any advice...just know that you're not the only one with naughty eaters :P
No advice, but I TOTALLY know what you are feeling. Cecily is SOO PICKY! It drives me crazy. Just about every night she says, "EWWWW, YUCK, I hate this stuff. I'm not eating that."
Then I tell her, "Sorry babe, if you don't eat what mommy makes, you'll just go hungry. I'm not a short order cook." And she would go hungry. However, my husband always gives in and makes her something else because apparently, HIS mom was a short order cook for everyone in his family.
I'm glad you included the picture. It does help tell the story. Although, I have to admit, since it was not my children, I did laugh. Sorry. But know I do feel for you.
I laughed too, sorry...but that is simply because i FEEL for you! I don't have advice 'cause I'm still hoping for some. I make my kids eat one bite of everything I fix then they can eat whatever they have on the plate if they want. I don't fix them more meals, but I do try to have a least one thing I know they like so they can have more of that if they want. I hope that made sense. About the playing and throwing,uuggh! i hear you! No help there, I'm still scrubbing gunk off my walls...and floor...and ceiling...sigh...
I love this!! I am having the same problem with Ty and it is driving me crazy! I am in need of some advice too. If I leave him at the table, the food ends up all over the floor and then I get really steamed! I am glad to know that I am not the only parent who shows some "tough love" Hang in there:)
My boys are usually good eaters, until lately Ben doesn't want to eat dinner and then when he's in his bed he starts crying about being hungry. When he was sick I caved once and brought him down for food and that did it. Everynight now he thinks I'll have compassion if he says he's hungry. But I do notice that if they haven't had a snack in the afternoon, they are so hungry by dinner that they will eat. And I know your boys play hard so they have got to be hungry. I figure if they are hungry, they will eat, and if they don't eat, they don't get anything else the rest of the night. Or I let them get down from the table but if they are hungry later they have to eat their dinner, still on the table and cold, but that is the way they get it. Plus if I have eaten my dinner, I still eat my icecream without them. Mean maybe, but after a time or two they know I mean business and I won't cave.
our pediatrician growing up always said kids eat when they're hungry, afterall the savior fasted for 40 days....our dr was always dead serious too. my dr told me that kids take 48 hours to process calories, that helped me understand the hunger strikes against me.....
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