For the past couple of days it's been a real challenge to get my three year old son to eat anything other than his favorites. Which would include; mac n cheese, fettuccine alfredo, quesadilla's, chicken quesadilla's, chicken nuggets fries and mcdonalds cheese burgers. He is just unwilling to even try new dishes let alone the typical mexican dishes that I make for dinner. Last night, I made albonidigas which is a mexican meatball soup. It's absolutely delish. I had my mother in law and Damian's cousin over for dinner. I thought that if Damian saw his also three year old cousin eat the soup, he would too. Boy was I wrong! He wanted nothing to do with it. He spit it out and was challenging me to even attempt to feed him it. I was determined to have him eat what there was or go to bed unfed. He cried and was yelling that he didn't want to eat albondigas and was demanding something else. It was hard but I stuck to my guns and sent him to his room. His punishment only lasted about a minute because he kept on playing the "ok, I am going to eat it game" with me but then wouldn't. I have to say I might be at fault with his eating behavior. Till recently I have been bending backwards and making two dinner dishes, one for my husband and another for Damian. But I came to the realization that he is way to spoiled and he should be eating what we eat as well. Which is why, I am trying to change his eating way's. We ended up driving my mother in law home pretty late. On the way, Damian said, "mommy, I am hungry, can you please buy me a cheeseburger, my tummy hurts". My heart melted and I gave in. Damian might have well said, Happy Meal, here we come because that's exactly what he got. When is it ok, if ever, to force your child to eat something against their will? Or, should I just keep on feeding into his bad habit's and give in?
I have also had this issue with my two year old son. However, forcing children to eat can cause serious issues in the future. Eating disorders begin this way. There's nothing wrong with a child going to bed hungry every once in awhile. They'll wake up ravenous and realize "Hey, I'm REALLY hungry. Maybe I should've ate last night." Making two separate dinners shouldn't be an option. When your son goes to school, he wont have the option of choice. What's on the menu, is on the menu. There have been a few nights when my son has gone to bed after only touching his food twice. We don't give in, because it's something toddlers need to learn. You eat when everyone else eats, and you eat WHAT everyone else eats. Until they can make their own dinner, that's just the way it's gonna' be. Good Luck!
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