Ooooo.... see, it's not so bad, now is it?

[Mehpenn]

I have two daughters. A nine year old, Poptart; a two year old, Bitsey.

My two year old is going through that "I won't eat unless it's sausage, bologna, chicken or peaches" stage.
My nine year old went through that stage and never left....... feeding her is such a major obstacle. She will eat junk, but if she even remotely thinks something has the slightest chance of being the tiniest bit healthy, you can forget about it.

So, I've had it. I'm fed up with trying to convince her that healthier foods are good too.

This morning I fixed breakfast. Fried sausage, and cheese omletes (made from fat free cheese and homegrown eggs).

Instantly Poptart started "I want Fruiti Pebbles... without milk." No. "Well, can I have a poptart?" No.
"What some pancakes?" *sigh* No, I made breakfast and you're going to sit down and eat it.

While I'm finishing up breakfast, she's standing over me grumbling and carrying on.... and then she sees the brown egg shells. OMG. You'd have thought I was trying to sneak poison in her eggs, which she's convinced are THE grossest thing ever anyway, and now I'm givng her eggs from our very own chickens and sausage, which is a meat that's got other stuff in it, is not battered and doesn't get dipped in ranch, regardless of weather it's fried or not. SHE. IS. GOING. TO. DIE. This is the worst day ever. I hate her. She's going to starve. Blah, blah, blah.

Ya know what? I've decided she can sit at that table til lunch time if she doesn't eat her breakfast... then she can eat it for lunch. I mean seriously. I've had it.

So, there we sit. Bitsey and I have eaten our breakfast. Bitsey actually attempted her eggs, and ate about half of them, along with a piece of sausage and drank a cup of milk. Good girl. Love it when she eats a good breakfast.
And there sits Poptart. Pushing her food around on her plate, like she's making a design out of the acid seeping from it.....

And we sit.

Finally she picks up a bite and drenches it in ketchup and forces herself to eat it.

OMG... she's going to throw up.

Another bite. No quite so much ketchup this time.

Gag.

This is the point where I tell her, if you throw up you're going to eat your breakfast out of your throw up.

Seriously, I have had it with her.

Another bite, no gagging this time. It's miraculous.

So, finally, she taken her last bite of egg and eaten about half her sausage. Mind you, it's taken her about 45 minutes to do so.

She looks at me and says "Ya know, that wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I guess I can eat our chicken's eggs... but don't try to sneak any in from the grocery store, I'll know the difference."

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REALLY? But hey, at least she ate her breakfast. And she's actually upstairs playing with her sister now, instead of sitting on the couch complaining about how tired she is.

 

[so lucky]

Congratulations, Mom! You won a very important battle this morning. I have known parents who cook a different (unhealthy) meal for each child, at any time of the day or night! (He won't eat vegetables, he won't eat eggs, he won't eat blah blah blah. All he wants is cocoapuffs and hotdogs). Again, I congratulate you for not giving in and letting her have fruitloops (as if there really was fruit in them!) You may find yourself removing all the unhealthy food from the house. People eat less in quantity when they eat nutrient-dense food. Less shopping! Healthier kids! Woohoo!

 

[goobhen]

I bought the cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld in which you "hide" healthy foods in recipes. I bought it to use the recipes both on my DH & DGS, don't know which one is worse about healthy foods!

 

[sourland]

With our kids if they did not want to eat what was cooked, OK. Leave the table and expect nothing to eat until the next meal. They did not starve and grew to be healthy adults. I don't understand the process of caving in to childrens' whims? Aren't we supposed to be the parents?

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

And it only took you NINE YEARS to figure this out?!?

Rusty

 

[BillinNM]

Thanks for the morning laugh.

 

[spacepony]

CONGRATULATIONS!! And Wow! I would swear this came right out of my kitchen (my daughters are 10 and 2, and have similar attitudes). Way To Go on not caving in!! I know my elder sweetie will just drive me to the point of drinking, smoking, and fast cars all in the time it takes to make her try ONE bite of something new and vaguely healthy! And then, when an hour's worth of dramatics, tears, whines, and a total conviction to being poisoned, they look at you with a non-chalance and say something like 'Huh. That wasn't too bad." and promptly act like nothing ever happened;

Keep strong!!!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

My sister has three girls (all very dramatic!). My SIL has two girls (also dramatic). My sister has always been very matter of fact about food. She makes one meal and the girls can eat it or not. If they choose not to eat it there are no between meal snacks before the next meal. Her girls are allowed to make a list of three foods that they won't eat and she honors the list. If it isn't on the list though they have to give it a try. They revisit the list every 6 months or so. Her three girls are really good eaters. They don't like everything, of course, but there are no power plays over food. You eat it or you go hungry. If mom makes something on your list you can have a PBJ sandwich instead. That's it. End of discussion.

SIL has ALWAYS pandered to her girls eating habits. She makes seperate meals for them and gives them seperate meal times. They only drink "special" milk (strawberry flavored with lots of sugar). She freaks out if they aren't eating and quickly makes something else for them. The girls are super smart and have figured out this is an easy way to yank mom's chain. They go through prolonged whining matches over what they will and won't eat. They are incredibly picky about food. When they come visit my SIL makes a grocery run to buy the brands and food that they will eat. Dinner is a HUGE battle.

The funny thing is that last summer the two stayed for two weeks with my sister's family without their parents around. Within two days they were eating what the other girls were eating, drinking regular milk and generally being adventuresome eaters (and by all appearances loving it). My sister wouldn't play the whining game and certainly wasn't going to prepare seperate food for them. There was no power struggle. It was very interesting. Of course, the minute their mom came back into town they reverted back to their pickiness. They just don't do it when my sister is in charge.

Food can be a battle or it can just be food. Good for you for standing your ground.

 

[3goodeggs]

Our son was around 18 months when he decided that he was now not going to 'like' something in order to see if he could get something different. (spin that plate, momma, spin it!)
We called the dog over, set his plate on the floor... and he screamed, 'NOOOOOO!'
he never turned his nose up again.
I just saw today's for better or worse. I do not know if this link with transfer or not:

http://fun.familyeducation.com/famed/coffeebreak/comics/ForBetter.html

They give him candy (in high school) for answering questions and being an all around "good guy' (yea, seems a lot like 'good dog' to me , but oh well)
Anyway, he is collecting it to see how much he gets, he won't eat it, because..."I don't want to get cavities.'
They do listen. (even if you think they won't hear you.)

 

[key west chick]

My dad made me eat my okra once. I was so upset I hurled all over the table. But guess what. I love fried okra now. IDK why, but its one of my favorite foods.