Each night we cook food, of varying kinds. Sometimes it is stuff we want to eat, we being the adults. Other times it is stuff c wants to eat. Sometimes we luck in and whatever we have cooked is eaten at a reasonable speed by everyone. Sometimes, like tonight, we luck out and there is a huge row about eating dinner. Tonight R completely lost his rag, and screamed to try and get the kid to eat his dinner. It is stressful and unpleasant. Sometimes we just seem to be nagging and it is the only topic at the table - c's eating. He will eat most anything if there is a bribe on offer, the most suitable bribe being anything sweet. Ice-cream is the favourite, but anything sweet is good, even fruit. Which you'd think, being healthy would not work as a bribe. Tonight after we had eaten (h eats whatever is put in front of him) we did dishes and I gave h dessert as he had eaten everything and still seemed hungry. I gave h a bath. c was still getting round to eating anything. So I told him he had 5 more minutes, at which time the bell on the stove would ring and I would give his dinner to the dog. Suddenly he ate the lot. But EVERY NIGHT. By god, I'm tired of it, and I'm tired of tomorrow night's battle before it even begins.
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On a happier note R found one of my old paintings in the garage, and even though it is not finished, I like it. It's nice to find my old stuff, and not cringe!
And the thesis made some decent progress today.
Posted by Toni at March 7, 2005 06:25 PMoh gosh, yes. getting kids to eat seems to just be a struggle all the time. with Alex, Mel has taken the line: The way you want to eat is not healthy. And since I am your mum and I love you and want you to grow up healthy, I am going to make you eat this. Ok? You have 20 minutes. If it's gone, you get to watch TV. If it's not, then straight to bed.
It works on him for some reason. I think because it cuts through the emotional tug-of-war and makes it a rule. But every 6 yr old is different.
I remember reading in New Scientist a while back that kids go through stages of fear of experimentation with food. Salty, bland or sweet is ok, mixed flavours are not. Also they like small, neat pieces of food that have sauces and exras seperate.
McDonald's seem to have done it well, although I've seen kids flip out over the pickles, onions and tomato sauce.
Bread and Processed Meat, Mum!