The class taught that parents decide what is offered, kids decide what and how much to eat, and after 3 bites kids get used to food. So I figured it couldn't be too hard. Then I had a kid.
Then I had two.
Then when number three refused to even eat a bite until she was 14 months, I had to surrender any pretense at knowing what in the world I was doing.
I know a lot of people have picky kids. But then sometimes I'll hear that person say, 'they'll only eat steamed broccoli". if only. While the younger two aren't nearly as picky, the older two usually don't eat dinner.
Ever.
There are a few dinners one or both of them will eat. Pancakes, burgers, sometimes pizza (seriously! pizza is sometimes refused!), quesadillas (cheese and sour cream Only!), and trader joe's orange chicken. Bread if we're having soup. Occasionally one will get so hungry he might eat an apple. We have tried so many strategies to get our kids to eat food. Which just sounds crazy. "They" say that if kids get hungry they will eat.
Ha.
So for a while our rule was no snacks after school except fruit, veggies, or nuts, and if you didn't eat dinner you didn't get anything else.
So they didn't eat anything from the time they got home. Then they'd wake up in the early morning hours to eat 'breakfast' at 5 or 6, go back to bed, and eat again when they got up for school. Which really made me feel like a prison warden.
So now they can have snacks, and if they have 3 bites of dinner (which can turn into a surprisingly lengthy discussion on what 3 bites really means) they can make themselves something else. Which seems to be working.
2 comments:
I remember that class--made everything sound so easy! Ha!
Oh my goodness, I thought I was reading my families blog for a minute. My kids are exactly the same. We are a family of 6 and it seems like we still cook for 2 most of the time unless we have having one of our more well liked meals (breakfast for dinner or spaghetti, pizza is also a hit or miss meal...).
Post a Comment