Dinner

[azurelunatic]

Nephew didn't eat much of his lunch. He got hungry midway through the afternoon, and requested pop tarts. I refused, and got him a snack of pretzels/crackers instead, informing him that he'd missed out on his chance to have sweets after lunch by not eating lunch.

You have to give him credit, he still tries, even though he knows he's probably not going to make it work. Auntie is just a little more stubborn. Asking her for something more than once when she said No the first time is not the way to get something.

Comments

[lizw.livejournal.com]

informing him that he'd missed out on his chance to have sweets after lunch by not eating lunch.

*wince* From my own experience of eating disorders, I don't think it's at all a good idea to try to encourage a kid to eat something he doesn't want by making the things he *does* want conditional on it. It's another step away from the intuitive eating that a lot of people with eating disorders struggle so hard to get back to.

[azurelunatic]

Lunch was abandoned on his plate when he got distracted by something shiny, even though it was something that he likes and eats when sitting still in one place.

He *was* eating lunch, then left his lunch to get cold and nasty, *then*, about three hours later, wanted pop tarts or popsicles, either would do. I gave him pretzel snack mix and milk instead, which he was quite happy with.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

If he abandoned his lunch, he wasn't hungry for it any more. If he had been one of mine, I might even have praised him for knowing when to stop eating.

[azurelunatic]

One of this household's hot buttons is too much sugar. I object strongly to a kid who is hungry filling up on sugar and non-nutritious junk food, and then not eating vegetables, meat, bread, cheese, etc. We are trying to establish in him the practical knowledge that when hungry, it's best to eat nutritious food first, before going straight after the junk food.

Another household problem that we've been working to solve is the issue of him *leaving* the plate *full on the table*. If he's not hungry anymore, fine. He can follow the established protocol of the house and scrape the leftovers into the trash and put the plate in the sink. This he is perfectly capable of doing. When he leaves the full plate for the cat to get into and spread all over? Not cool.

Praise him for knowing when to stop eating, sure. That's not been an issue with him. Remind him that neither man, woman, nor child exists on Buzz Lightyear cereal, two forkfuls of corn, and Pop Tarts alone, definitely.

[azurelunatic]

hm; the idea of microtreats proportional to the amount of nutritional food consumed presents itself.

Very early on in my introduction to the household I introduced the concept of "no-thank-you helpings" of new or suspect foods. He's still at the age where anything that looks unfamiliar is not to be touched with a ten foot pole. Instead of the obvious mistake of forcing him to eat it all (Grandma was not the best of role models for parenting; my parents were better; this household takes after them now) he must try one bite; if that's OK he can have more; if that's not OK, there are other things to eat. He's found that some things he likes after all, even though they did look a little weird.

My dad also raised me with the baby bird method of feeding kids while preparing the meal. Kid is in kitchen helping, and every so often gets little bits of what's being made. This is very successful in my experience. Works especially well with stir frys.