If I had a penny for every time they don’t finish their meals
I probably would be a millionaire by now, or close to it, if I got a penny for every time our kids don’t finish their meals. I would be sufficiently wealthy if they finish even just half of what I put in front of them.
We have one Very Picky Eater, and one Semi-Picky Eater. Almost every meal I have to repeatedly say phrases such as sit down please, eat your food please, NO JUMPING on your chair, please DON’T BOTHER YOUR sister/brother, eating time is not playing time, don’t play with your food….
Not much luck at all.
Although they are not malnourished (and you can see they are not, from the Halloween pictures a couple of posts below this one), they aren’t getting all the basic food groups into their bodies most meals.
Many people have told me that when they were younger, their parents used to tell them something along the lines of “there are little children starving in China / Africa, you’re lucky to have food on the table,” and that usually worked to get them to straighten up.
I haven’t tried that yet, even so, I’m pretty sure they will just giggle and look at me like I’m a crazy mama.
When I was growing up (in rural China), having enough food on the table was a problem. So needless to say, we devoured any and all foods during mealtime without any persuasion from our parents.
Do (did) you have a picky eater or eaters at your home? How do you get them to eat without bribing them? Or is the adage that, they’ll eat what they need…?