Battle: Mealtime

June 17, 2008 emtsgrl

The worst part of my day is dinnertime. This is so sad, it should be wonderful, our little family sitting down, sharing a delicious meal, and talking about our day. But, at my house, I refer to dinnertime as Battle: Mealtime. I cook, I serve, we sit, and then it begins, the whining, the “I don’t like that”, the wiggling in the chair, the “I’m full” when she hasn’t eaten one single bite. My hubby and I have done everything we can think of to get her to eat without the battles, but nothing has worked. She doesn’t eat and then at 9 pm when she should be sleeping, she’s whining that she’s hungry and I feel guilty and try to feed her something light, but filling, and hubby is shaking his head the whole time. I don’t know what to do. I want dinnertime to be a peaceful, wonderful experience that we all enjoy. The way things are going though, I’m ready to give up and eat at the coffee table in front of the TV. Horrible. So, if you have suggestions for me on how to end Battle: Mealtime, I’m eager, I’m listening, I’m willing to try anything!

Entry Filed under: Monkey

2 Comments Add your own

• 1. kittyrex  |  June 22, 2008 at 5:32 am

  I had that same problem with my second child. I continued to offer her dinner at the usual time and tried to make it so the rest of the family also sat down and ate, so that she could see it was a routine. I didn’t offer her any alternative from what the rest of the family was eating.

  If she didn’t eat, I didn’t make a fuss about it but merely said “You’re going to be hungry later, then”.

  Come about 9.30 when she started to whine she was hungry, she got a drink of water and dry crackers. That’s all. After a while (only about five days) she realised that the earlier dinner was the better option.

  I was lucky because I am a lazy mother and refused to fret about it. No child has ever starved itself if food is on offer and I recognised this and thought that it was worth a few days of whining to get her eating properly. You may not be like that, in fact probably are not, but I don’t have a problem with hearing my child cry if I know that there is nothing wrong with them.

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• 2. Ky Woman  |  June 21, 2008 at 12:15 am

  I know this might sound crazy, but try asking for her help with fixing dinner. If she has a tiny bit of input with what she is served for dinner, it might get her to at least eat a bite or two. Also, maybe have one of her favorite foods. There’s been many a dinner of biscuits and gravy at my house. They ate, which is all I cared about. With my g-kids, they know the rule, “we have to eat good food before getting junk food.”
  But on the other hand, I’ve been seen at the stove at 1am cooking something because one of them was hungry. What can I say? Oh yeah, I’m so wrapped!

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