Do you make your kids eat what they are served?

[kstaven]

butter, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar is my favorite.

 

[redhead83402]

Quote:
Amen to this!! In our house, even the youngest ( who is a 10 yr old boy) helps to make & prepare foods, plan meals, purchase the food at the store, and plan the menu's. By the time they are helping to make the food, they have a far richer understanding of just what goes into the meals that are offered. This 10 yr old son is our picky eater, however, he makes homemade bread every day. By himself. Because that is one of his duties. Yes, it is with a bread maker, but it is his responsibility to turn on the wheat grinder, fill the sugar bin, and write on the grocery list if we are out of a particular ingredient for the bread. And he is very proud of this. And none of his sisters are quite as good as he is at it, either!

If children, (yes, even 2 yr olds can help!) are added into the food making preparations, they often are very proud of themselves and will partake, regardless of the taste.
~Red

 

[MissPrissy]

I really get PO'd when someone is invited over to our house and the wife/husband makes a comment about what the other will not eat. Or if we are sitting at the table and an adult turns their nose up at a specific vegetable.

Picky adults who stick to corn and potaoes and won't even try a bean or a carrot make me want to smack them. Or the fattish lady down the road who insists she is a vegetarian because she doesn't eat meat "with bones in it".

That is real rocket science right there, folks!

 

[joebryant]

When Anne and I were raising our two, the subject of their eating/not eating never came up. Anne and I didn't care if they starved to death if they couldn't/wouldn't eat what was served. If they didn't eat, there were more leftovers for the next meal. Somehow they survived, but if they'd been so stupid/stubborn that they'd've died of starvation/malnutrition, who'd've wanted them around anyway?

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

Or the fattish lady down the road who insists she is a vegetarian because she doesn't eat meat "with bones in it".

What meat has no bones?

 

[CATRAY44]

We required the kids to take a "courtesy bite" of any food offered. I tried to let them serve themselves when they were old enough/able. They were required to eat what they took. That way it wasn't my idea of what portion they should finish, it was theirs. If they didn't resonably finish what they took, they put the plate in the fridge and that is what they ate before they had any dessert, etc.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

My kids eat what is put before them or go hungry. I have found they will eat if they are hungry. No tasting it if it's a new food. New or not, you eat everything on your plate. If you didn't like it, I won't give you any of it next time.

Also, they have learned they do not get a dessert if they do not eat. One time of seeing their siblings get something they couldn't have for dessert, and that no longer because an issue.

With the way things are today I can't afford for them to waste any food. Most of what they eat vegetable wise we try to get fresh. They love fresh fruit as a dessert as well, and the only really sugary treats they get are ones that I baked or on that rare occassion that g-parents give them candy or Christmas. Then it's nuts and fruit in their stocking and one or two candy canes.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Oh what a topic! My kids suffer from the trickle down effect. The youngest one used to eat everything and anything until he saw his older brother turn up his nose or say "yuck"!
Making them try two bites of anything is fine until they manipulate that bite into a sub-atomic particle that cannot be seen by the human eye!
I agree with those that said they can get their own food as long as its balanced. My wife is okay with that for two minutes until she thinks there will be a mess in the kitchen, her domain, then she gets angry and calls a halt to it. And they know this.
Dinner time at our house is torture for my wife and I. We are both old fashioned about it, but I am a tougher proponent of eat it or go hungry, it's your choice. When it becomes a control mechanism for the boys, then I am the tough boss and there is no option. It is however a difficult stance to have.
I grew up eating deer, duck, frog legs and any game that was in season because at times that was all we had. My kids don't have to eat that way but, I'd like to think they could if times got tough, knowing they don't have an option.

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
We eat that now. It is not poor eating. I spend a small fortune raising game and meat for our table.

My kids have learned we can't buy better food than I give them from our own hard work.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Miss;
I agree it's not poor eating at all. It's whats available to each of us that kids need to learn to eat. I should also add this. Our kids are apopted and they were in foster homes that would do anything to avoid conflict, so they let them do as they wanted, to keep the peace. It's not right but it happens. Now they are in a real family that has rules that they have to be a part of so we are also overcoming several years of --- neglection of responsiblity. The boys are 11 and 8 and we have had them for 4 years. Their past still haunts us.