Comments:

1. Quote:

   Originally Posted by Csara All day long he tells me he is hungry, yet come dinner time, he doesn't want to eat....or he wants "something else". Then he wants dessert.

   That happens all the time w/N. Right before dinner she is cranky and tells me she's hungry. Right as we sit down for dinner, she tells me that her tummy isn't hungry and she whines, complains, wants to sit on my lap, and then asks for sweets. We are pretty firm about sitting when we eat, not whining at the table, and trying some things on your plate, etc. Both girls are offered the same thing that we are eating but I mealplan around their likes as well as ours. There are ALWAYS 2-3 things on their plate that I know they like/can eat. If we have something that I don't expect them to eat (like salads) I make them something that I know they will eat. But I'm not going to be a short order cook.
   If N doesn't eat off of her plate at dinner, I leave it out and let her know I'll warm it at any time for her, but after we go upstairs for bed, no more food (a while ago, she wouldn't eat dinner, then at bedtime would say she was hungry). Sometimes she eats a few bites after dinner, sometimes she doesn't eat a thing, sometimes she will ask for a piece of fruit or crackers/cereal before bed, which is fine with me. I just believe they will eat when they are hungry. I don't want to make it a battle, and I am so paranoid about creating food issues. We really want mealtimes to be enjoyable family time.      by Deana
   
2. It actually makes me feel better to hear this from both of you. N is more finicky than we'd like. My mom keeps saying she's not picky because she eats a wide variety of foods - separately. However, it is still very annoying to us. She refuses to eat so many things, and you can't always count on something she's eaten before.
   
   We have recently been working on having her try new foods. Last Thursday, we had burritos, and she had a tiny one that she had to eat or no other food. She ate all but ONE BITE then refused to finish it. I had already told her she had to eat it all (it was about 6 small bites total) without complaining or no other food. She absolutely would not eat the last bite. I told her dinner was over, and that was it.
   
   Then she got sick the next day. Ugh. Since then, we haven't been doing new foods until she was all the way better. She just started eating normally yesterday, so we will be easing back into that soon.
   
   I am SO paranoid about creating some kind of food complex for her that will last her whole life. I don't know how to go about expanding her eating and how strict to be. It's really frustrating. I'm hoping we can avoid all of this with A!!!      by Margarita
   
3. Helen pulls this on me. I'm pretty sure that saying she's hungry before dinner is an attempt to get my attention while I'm trying to get dinner ready. She knows that if she sits at the table that I will at least bring food to her (which I often cut up) and usually I'll sit with her while she eats. Then when we all sit down, she will refuse things that we know she likes or that we know she will like if she tries them. I say, "OK, you don't have to eat but can you sit with us while we eat?" She usually sits there and eventually begins to eat her food. Sometimes she barely eats a bite for dinner, but I don't worry about it because she eats a lot (for her age) at the beginning of the day. I don't think kids are really that hungry at the end of the day. I'm not sure how we all got into a habit of dinner being the largest meal because I don't think that comes naturally. Anyway, if he's not complaining about being hungry at bed time, then don't feel guilty at all. He'll eat when he's hungry.      by honeybunny
   
4. I am not a buffet, grocery store or short order cook. My child goes to bed without a formal dinner many a night. She is a lot like what everyone is describing here. You are trying to balance SO many things in this sort of battle. You want healthy foods but you want foods they like ... you want them to eat but you don't want to cater to their every whim. If she asks for something like raisins, oranges, pineapple or grapes then I'll give in if we have the item on hand. If she asks for candy, ice cream, soda, pizza or anything else like that we say no. There are exceptions of course, but as she is remaining picky we are having to be more consistent.
   
   My experience is like Honey's ... she eats great for breakfast/lunch/snack. Think of all the cultures in which dinner is either non existent or very minimal.      by jessica
   
5. Good for you for sticking to your guns. I think too many people let their kids get away with not eating healthy foods and just eating junk all the time because they are afraid to let them starve. That's probably how we end up with the obesity problems!      by B'sgirl
   
6. we go through this a lot!
   
   Logan for the longest time wouldn't eat any kind of meat. So, we just put a little bit of whatever meat we were having on his plate along with the other things that we were having. if he ate a bite or two of the meat, that was great. If he ate none of the meat, that was fine too. But as long as he ate the other things on his plate.
   
   Brandon has done this on a couple of nights that happened to be school nights. We told him that he had to eat his dinner or there was nothing else. If that didn't fly, then we made sure to let him know that it was a looooong time until breakfast and he would be really hungry if he didn't eat anything right now!
   
   We refuse to be short order cooks. grocery stores, or anything of the such. And they have come to realize that whatever is on their plates, is their dinners and if they don't eat it, then they get nothing else.      by tommysgirl18
   
7. D has went to bed w/ no dinner more times than I can count. I tried that for awhile, unfortunately it didn't work. No big breakfast, no big lunch, nothing. I have also had to fix him something seperate for meals for many years. Yes, it is insane. Now I get him chicken finger meals and corndogs that he can microwave himself when I have something he doesn't like---which is everything except chicken, steak, and porkchops. I am praying E won't have that pickiness.      by HeavenLeigh
   
8. A is actually a very good eater - at school. At home, it is hit and miss. By the time I get him home, he is hungry and I don't want him to get over hungry nor do I want him to snack.. so I let him eat earlier (like 5PM) than me and the stbxH. He still typically has some of what we are eating though. Lately he has been a bird most dinenrs and then a pig others. Last night it was corn. He kept asking for more... after 3 servings (a serving spoon/serving) i told him no and to work on his other stuff. Pandemonium! He refused. I left the plate on his table for about an hour. He did however eat his 1 1/2 chicken nuggets (this was a leftover plate from the night before) and the cut up pieces of pork roast at leat. However mac and cheese and green beans - 2 faves.. no dice. Then, he bummed from me... steamed rice, pork, peas, carrots and scrambled egg. As long as there were no carrots, he wolfed it down. He ate enough for it to be a meal! Carrots used to be a fave, BTW.
   
   I try to make meals he and the stbx will like. If I am having something i KNOW he won't eat (rare he can't eat ANYTHING i make), i'll make him something else... but usually.. i am not a short order cook!      by pink_elephant