Dinnertime Drama
All the toddler mama’s, put your hands up! Who’s with me? Have you had enough of the dinnertime drama? I knew you’d be right there with me.
The hubster and I have started to dread dinnertime. The fighting. The crying. The guilt. It’s all too much. We know the child is hungry but it just flat out would refuse to eat what we were having. I am not one to let the child go starving but I felt that he needed to at least try the dinner. If he didn’t like it, fine, I will make you something else. I’m not a short order cook! They are both lucky that I cooked one meal!
So here is what we tried:
- One no thank you – You have to try the dinner and if you don’t like it you can say “No Thank you” and something else will be made.
- You are not getting up until you eat your dinner – This only results in tears and guilt.
- Going to bed without dinner {sort of} – You don’t have to eat what is for dinner but you aren’t getting anything else {again, enter the guilt}.
None of that was working. And, frankly, they weren’t the aggravation. I was talking with some co-workers one day and several brought up some suggestions. I had an “A ha! Moment” when I heard the one suggestion.
Now seriously, why didn’t I ever think of this?!
We have been going with this method for the past week. We’ve had our good days {and some bad}. But it’s working! He loves scooping his own food on his plate and he tends to eat a lot more {even the stuff I don’t think he will eat}. I really thing it’s a control thing. He has control over how much, what he eats, and if he wants more.
Dinnertime has been a lot more enjoyable and peaceful.
Everyone’s bellies are full and Momma’s happy!
OH I remember those days well. I was ready to pull out my hair. But I always make something that the youngest will eat since he has proven to be my picky eater. He is not a meat eater as such unless it is some form of chicken but he LOVEs most veggies and anything he can add Cheese to.
Pie is a drvie by eater at the moment. If we put her in her chair no eating happens, but if we put some food out and let her go about her business she can take down an impressive amount.
That's what we had to do too, when MrZ was that age. We had this huge LazySuzan in the middle of the table, and every dinner was a buffet of choices. It made dinner a lot easier. And he was even making the "healthy" choices all on his own! Congrats on finding what works for you!
My 5 year old still has his moments when it comes to food. He doesn't always eat pork chops, so I try to make a few different sides that I know he likes.
One thing that really helps with my son is to let him help me cook. He seems more inclined to eat something that he had a hand in making.
My youngest are 7 and 10 and I still get the "I don't want that for dinner". I think giving them the choice is a great idea!
That is a GREAT idea. I think I will try it, as well. Thanks!
Yay! We were having a similar issue and I started doing muffin tin lunch, you get a muffin tin and put a little bit of different things and he picks and chooses and then I give him two choices for dinner. My husband closes a lot so it's usually just us for dinner so it's no problem to do this or this. I will have to remember this trick for when he gets a little older!
Excellent idea…glad you posted this. Ty, my 2 year old, thinks multiple snacks can replace his dinner. I've been allowing ketchup on any and everything and it's kind of grossing me out!
I absolutely love this idea. Z has been SO PICKY with food lately. I'm going to have to borrow it!
Popped in from SITS! I'm filing this away for when I have kids…
omg thats genius! I have to try that, we're having the exact same problems with my 3 year old and he is definitely going to bed hungry. The killer is that he will eat it if we can actually get him to try it, its getting him to put that first bite in his mouth! Arg…anyways, thank you for the inspiration!
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~Kristina
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