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Okay, meal time issues


MyBrownEyedBoy wrote: Here's my dilemma. I get off work at 4:30pm, pick up Logan and am usually home by 5pm. About 15 minutes after we get home Logan is telling me he's hungry and wants to eat. Right Now!
Well, I am tired of fixing dinner for Aaron and I and having Logan uninterested in eating what I cooked because I gave him a late snack. It can't be helping his eating habits either. He's always asking for sandwiches or hot dogs or chicken nuggets. I can't get him to try anything green. I'd like to be able to sit him down at dinner time and say, "This is what's for dinner." And have him eat it instead of turning up his nose and asking for a sandwich. Or just not eating it. Help, please!!! I'm losing the battle for a healthy eater.

Twelve Volt Man replied: Order pizza. wink.gif

luvmykids replied: I live by the "this is what we're having, take it or leave it" program. They don't have to eat everything on their plate but if they want more of something, say mashed potatoes, they have to finish their veggies first.

I know it's hard at that dinner crunch time, when they're starving and dinner is still a little ways off...can you give him a smaller snack? Or have one in the car so it's a little earlier than usual?

TheOaf66 replied: I try to enforce the "this is dinner, you don't like it starve" mentality but it doesn't always work. I am trying though

momofone replied: The V8 splash and fusion taste good and contain veggies and juicy juice has one out now i think it's called garden harvest contain veggies and fruits. I only do 1/2 cup so they don't OD on vitamins.

amynicole21 replied: One thing you can try is to bring a sippy of water for him to slurp on during the ride home. It will fill up his little tummy and trick him into thinking he's not hungry. We get barraged by snack and juice requests the second we walk in the door, too. rolleyes.gif So frustrating.

I think the key is to stop making him something else. If he doesn't eat what you give him, he doesn't eat. He won't starve himself, but you will probably have to deal with a lot of whining and fits when you tell him "no." wink.gif

mummy2girls replied: what i did (and still do) when i worked out of the home.. I made a big batch of chili or soups or pasta and then froze them in individual servings. so when i got hoem i just warmed uop and served.

Kids dont starve themselves hun! He will eat! What you need to do is start just giving him his meals when you guys eat and tell him this is for dinner. Kids will not starve hun he will eat. And it usually takes offering a child a certain food they say they dont like or wont eat at least 12 times before they will try it. Because if you give him the sandwich out of frustration then he will know he will get that each time he cries for it and such. what i do with the dayhome kids is if they say yucky i tell them they need to at least take one bite before they say they dont like it and if they still dont like it then ok you dont have to eat it and about 95 percent of the time they will end up liking it.

have you tried sneaking and hiding in the greens in the food?. i do that with one picky child and he never figures it out...LOL.

MyBrownEyedBoy replied: Thank God for you all. I swear, I'd lose my mind somedays without you. Thanks for the replies, keep them up and tonight, he's not getting a sandwich. 2 baby carrots and water for a snack then dinner.

lovemy2 replied: I have the same issue - Olivia is just plain not an eater - she could care less most of the time about food - she is starving when she gets home so she gets a snack (small and healthy - no sugary snacks, etc - those I save as a bribe for after she eats her dinner that was served blush.gif and even then they aren't really sugary snacks - just the ones she prefers...) anyway we started backing up dinner for all of us a bit - that way she gets a snack - I get time to unwind for a little bit and get dinner together without a major rush and so far its working....she is eating better and trying more stuff....

hoosier momma replied: I don't have a picky eater, but I do have a little guy that is usually starving, even if he has had one snack, when I get home at 5. I was going to suggest the carrots as that has been my snack of choice lately. John Robert eats these so slowly that 3-4 carrots can buy me at least 30 minutes. Somedays John Robert has a snack at my SIL's before I pick him up which is great. Is there anyway he can have a snack at Daycare before you pick him up or on the way home?

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I've got 2 snackers and it makes me crazy. What I try to do is give them healthy snacks that way they get all their nutrients in throughout the day. My kids do pretty well eating a good lunch at school. The SECOND they walk thru the door they are rummaging the house for snacks, though. Then they never want to eat dinner. My point is, if they have gotten all the nutrients they need throughout the day, I don't stress so much over them sitting down and eating a three course meal. As long as they try it, take a couple of bites and don't ask for anything else the rest of the evening, I'm fine. I know they probably aren't hungry and I know they won't starve. wink.gif

DansMom replied: Sometimes I just put out as a snack the component of a meal that I know he'll avoid in favor of other things when he has choices on his plate. I'll put out some carrots and strawberries, for example, while I'm cooking dinner. Or apple slices. Or I'll make the salad first and whisper like it's our secret that he can pick out the cucumbers while I'm cooking (I arrange them around the edge so he's not digging in the greens, and he thinks he's getting away with something). I don't ask if he wants vegetables (he'll say he prefers something else). I just put them out. And magically, at least a few of them get eaten.

I make sure he likes at least one thing I'm serving, and if he fills up on that, so be it. No alternates unless the alternate is a vegetable (you don't like broccoli---you can have carrots).

Good luck!

DansMom replied: Oh, I thought of something else---smaller portions on the plate at dinner. Daniel eats less when I put more food on his plate. If I put a small amount, he'll ask for seconds. That's my chance to say "eat three more green beans and you can have more potato".

Sometimes I'd challenge him to finish his veggie before I finish mine. I learned recently that this works like a charm, but can lead to unchewed food and choking, so I'm not recommending it.

redchief replied: I like carrot sticks and celery snacks too. Beats the chocolate chip cookie I'm contemplating right now. blink.gif

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: I like Amy's suggestion about filling him up with water on the way home. We totally have this issue too Kelly. And I'm so tired of feeding the kids a totally seperate meal at around 5pm and then cooking another meal for DH and I around 7pm. I don't work, so of course it's easier for me to just make a full dinner around 3pm so that it's ready, but who wants to be home cooking all day. So I really like the ideas of water and putting only healthy snack options in front of him. Give him the take it or leave it approach, or he can wait for dinnertime.

I just read in my new Parents magazine about a cookbook that Jerry Seinfeld's wife just wrote. She was having a hard time getting her three kids to eat veggies, so one day she was making pureed squash for her baby and tried mixing some in with her kid's mac and cheese dinner. I guess they ate it up without even knowing! So now she makes spinach brownies and all kinds of foods with pureed veggies in them. Just an idea.

lovemy2 replied:
Hmmm - that sounds interesting - I may have to look for that cookbook...

amynicole21 replied: This book looks pretty good... may have to check it out!

The Sneaky Chef

CantWait replied: Great suggestions so far. Although it's not a healthier choice, sometimes it works to get the healthies in them, DIPS. Ketchup, Ranch, Sour Cream, S&S or BBQ Sauce, Gravy, Cheese (Cheesewhiz)....you'd be surprised how much better something tastes when you have something covering it, or something to dip it in.


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