Question
Posted at 2007-09-05 05:30:11 by AliceBran
What do your kids eat? Vegetables? Meat? Casseroles? Is your kitchen stocked only with PB&J and hot dogs? Do you bribe your kids with "dessert" so they'll eat their dinner?
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Tagged: mealtime dessert vegetables
Answers
Posted at 2007-09-05 19:47:27 by kate
My 3 year old goes through waves... some days he'll eat anything, some days he's fasting. His mainstays are cheese, rolled-up lunchmeat, cut fruit, cashew butter and jelly, Crunchy Corn Bran cereal, and chicken nuggets.
He will not eat anything saucy, crumby, wet, or melted. But he sometimes wants to have what we're having, and then refuses once it is on his plate. So if we're having, for example, lasagna, AND I'm feeling motivated, he gets a compartmentalized plate with some noodles with melted butter, some browned meat, and some cheese.
I try to never mention dessert at the table, because it instantly leads to an endless conversation about dessert. What is it? When is it coming? Can I have it now? Will I be allowed more than one? We rarely have dessert, at least before the kids are in bed, and when we do you would think I was serving liquid gold.
My one-year-old would just like to nurse all the time, thank you very much Mom right now!! But that's not quite my plan, so he works in the typical stuff, Cheerios, lots of bread, cheese, stewed or steamed fruit pieces (usually from a jar or can, packed in the lowest-sugar option juice), and still some baby food.
One more thing -- whatever you get, you get. I'm no short order cook, and I refuse to let my meal go to waste while I'm re-making dinner for a fussy eater. This leads to some unpleasantness at dinner. If I'm anticipating a fight, I'll whip up some chicken nuggets or the previously mentioned roll-ups. Or I'll just say from the start that I'm not making anything else. Sometimes that works. Either way, the 3 year old knows that he can't get a special meal if it hasn't already been made before I sit down.
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Posted at 2007-09-07 16:18:58 by shanbrenek
Jake (3 years) went thru a phase where he wouldn't eat. And nothing worked. I tried to give very very small portions that didn't look too overwhelming, and that kind of worked. But I have found that the surefire way to get him to eat dinner is to have NO snacks for a couple hours before dinner. And he's so starving he'll eat anything.
I also keep a couple chicken nuggets or ham rollups around just in case he really won't eat. And I can usually tell which meals are going to be a no-go.
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