Thursday, November 18, 2010

What's for dinner?

What did you have for dinner tonight?

Us? We had Shake 'n' Bake pork chops with au gratin potatoes and carrots. I thought it was super yummy! My children, on the other hand, did not.

It has been a struggle lately to get my children to eat home cooked meals. They prefer hot pockets, pizza rolls, chicken nuggets and fries, etc. Now, this is our fault in a way, for the last 6 months or so the previously listed things have been in their diets all too often. Yes, I have an excuse as to why (I was so sick when pregnant, ugh!) but it still isn't excusable. Anyhow, on to the point. Tonight I made a lovely meal, a meal many children could only dream about, and yet my children turned up their noses and refused to eat it.

Gavin was the ONLY one of the kids to eat his food. RJ, has been sick, so I can understand why he didn't really eat, but I know he wouldn't have even if he was well. So, all the kids that didn't eat got sent to bed at 6pm. Yes, I said 6pm. I know it was early, but wasting that much food was unacceptable to me.  The meal had cost  $18 total, and we probably fed about $10 of that to the dog. :(

What do you do when your children refuse to eat? Do you require them to eat all of their food, a certain amount of their food, or do you leave it up to them and just throw away what they don't eat?

4 fantastic comments:

Megan said...

We had wendys tonight. I was going to cook but my husband got home late so we just went and got something. Makenzi will usually eat what we give her but sometimes she doesnt its not like what she doesnt eat is wasted cuase i cook the same amount of food for 2-3 people and we save the leftovers for the next day (sometimes) But if she only plays We try and give her fruit. I dont think its bad cause she needs to eat something and its healthy but it doesnt happen very often. I do also try to give her a fruit with dinner anyway but sometimes i dont. If she doesnt eat what is given to her i dont make or do anything special.

Anonymous said...

ERG I feel your pain. Kaycee is a very picky eater and thinks we should make whatever SHE likes for dinner and only those things. She refuses to eat anything she doesn't like the look of or anything she hasn't had before. We make her eat her fill of SOMETHING that is off the table,or she gets a PBJ. But she had better finish what she takes otherwise she has to eat that first before a bedtime snack. It is such a hard thing to deal with! Why can't kids just be grateful they have food and are not living in Africa where they get one meal a day!? I am sending Kaycee to Africa...

Unknown said...

The thing is Jen they say that forcing a child to eat can lead to obesity i think that's why so many children have some vitamin deficiencies today. I required my girls to eat at least a bite not a nibble a bite, but this can bite you in the but to I have a 13 year old who hates any thing green & carrots of any kind but I still require that bite she may fight it but at least it gives them a chance to taste what they are debating over with out forcing them to eat too much. My step daughter put a slice of cheese on everything she made, so her kids would eat it but now she is paying for it with two children fighting obesity. some times you just have to be creative like letting them help cook so they can eat what they cooked so they can be proud of it and show off how good of a cook they are to siblings. just try to remember back how you were how did you look at food and what did you do to mask what you did not like, like the gallon of ketchup on my liver, hiding my peas, or faking and upset stomach. what did you do?

Six in the Nest said...

I know I always ate my food, that was mandatory. I think that could be why I am overweight. I don't want to force my kids to eat, but then again I never serve them a helping that is huge nor do I expect them to overeat, and we can not afford to waste the large amount of food that is wasted when they all refuse to eat.

Having them cook with me does seem to help most of the time. I just hope they grow out of this hating vegetables thing. :/

 
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