And Connor is the worst. He will judge a meal within 1 second of me setting it in front of his discerning little face. I have a strict policy that what is served is all that is available; none of this preparing different meals for different people. You won't eat your dinner? You go hungry. Might sound harsh, but it's how I was raised.
So tonight, I made a homemade (and rather tasty in my humble opinion) beef stew and cornbread. This, by the way, was a great dinner for Lucas with the help of the baby food grinder. At least he loved it! The other two? It went from bad to ugly. Isabel crumbled up her cornbread and sprinkled it all over her head, pretending it was magic pixie dust that was going to transport her to Neverland (that Peter Pan thing remains huge in our house). And these are some of the comments made by Connor:
"This smells bad."
"I don't like it."
"It doesn't want me to eat it."
So tonight, Brian got tough. He told Connor he was not allowed to leave the table until he had eaten 3 carrot slices and 1 cubed piece of potato. That's it. I was really curious to see the outcome of this - the will of Connor to not eat dinner is strong, yet Brian seemed determined to win this one. I have attempted this before, but since I do so many dinners alone b/c of Brian's schedule, I can never enforce it for very long. So who won the standoff? Well, Connor sat at the table for a long, long, long, long time...
A whopping 2 hours and 5 minutes (well over an hour of this was spent by himself while we all played in the living room). Finally, at 7:50, I told Brian he needed to get to bed on time for school in the morning. So we'll call it a tie; as I ultimately ended the standoff.
The good news is he generally eats a good breakfast and lunch. And for the record (so you don't think we're too mean), there are a few dinners he likes, and I make sure at least one meal a week is something he likes, or at least tolerates. I fully accept there are some things he likely really does not like, but I just want him to at least try things before he makes up his mind!
4 comments:
I love it! THANK YOU - I'm not alone in this! This is SO one of those things that my mother did that I swore I never would - but take great joy in tormenting my children with dinner. You go girl!
"It doesn't want me to eat it."
Too funny! Probably funnier to me than it was to you at the time... Elijah has that odd childhood horror of his food touching. So basically unless everything is readily distinguishable and separate, he's totally grossed out. I usually win in standoffs though. :)
That picture of Connor is great. Without words, you can tell what he is thinking. Addy's not too picky, and will always take two bites. But don't come to our house at bed time. It is a standoff. PS- I did the "my husband" on my blog.
What a great story! We all have our struggles don't we? I have a friend who tried reverse psychology on this topic and it actually worked. She would tell her kids that they weren't going to like the dinner. (and she stuck to it, which amazes me) The kids would argue with her and actually prove to her by eating the meal that they liked it! I heard in ECFE not to let food become a battle. You give the kids a variety of food to choose from at dinner ie. stew and cornbread and it's their choice to eat it or not. But you definately have a stubborn one on your hands. Good luck!
Post a Comment