I'm not exactly serving him brussels sprouts or something. Last night's menu? Homemade chicken tenders with yummy mashed potatoes and green beans. But, no. The chicken apparently tasted like fish, and he didn't like his potatoes all mashed up and his stomach hurt and life in general was not working out.
In the past, we've made him eat some and then told him that he could be done eating, but that there would be nothing else till breakfast. Last night, Jason decided to take it to another level. He told Nate that if he didn't finish all his dinner, there would be no snacks whatsoever the next day. This is a child who likes to eat from dawn till dusk.
As Jason laid down the law, I gave him the look across the table. The look that says, Really? Are we prepared to go through with this? My mom and dad always talked about presenting a United Front in parenting, so I didn't say anything. But I'm thinking, great. Tomorrow is just gonna be buckets of fun.
Of course, Nate refused to eat any more of his dinner. Gauntlet? Thrown down. An hour later, Nate was asking for a piece of garlic bread. He cried when he was refused.
Oh, and guess who left the house at 5:30 this morning, leaving me to deal with the ravenous 4 year old? Jason was out the door! So he wasn't around at 6:50 this morning to hear Nate asking for a piece of cake. Before breakfast. (A little ambitious, this boy.) Or a croissant at the grocery store at 9:05. And so on. So, I'm left to enforce the No Snackage Rule. Nice moves, Jase!
It's like the new President having to carry out the policies of the former President. "Sorry Nate," I should say, "This was set in motion by the previous administration."
Dinner tonight should be interesting! Jason has already told him that he won't have any snacks tomorrow either if he doesn't eat. In that case, I think I'll sneak out of the house in the dead of night.
May God help us all.
Gosh I love these little stories =). Julia Girling used to have this problem and we cured it by making her eat her dinner leftovers for breakfast the next morning, super gag (and yes, I so enjoyed serving that tearful dinner to her the next morning;). It took her two times and she was done. And I think we lessoned her portions for a higher success rate ;).
ReplyDeleteoh, now I 'get' it! I heard Jason say that to him last night and the penny just dropped :)
ReplyDeleteLike Crystal says my dad used to make us eat it all. And we could stop when ever we wanted but everytime we asked for something it was going to be that plate of food until it was all gone. I hated it as a avid anti veggie eater. I was the Ava, choke it down, rinse mouth with water type.
ReplyDeleteI bet today has been SO much fun....
Oh, yes, my husband does the same thing to me...except instead of no snacks, it's no TV. They should just call us "The Enforcers." Gah!
ReplyDeleteYou know time is such an abstraction to a little guy. It makes for a very long night if he can't have any thing to eat. How about apiece of fruit? You know I make a lousy enforcer. I know it. A friend told us once that if he didn't eat his dinner,his granny would sit the plate on the porch till the next day when it was offered to him again. Now, that's just wrong. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThe "previous administration" line is hilarious! I, being a grandma, am with your Mom on this one. Tell Nate the new congress has covened and give that precious baby a banana!
ReplyDeleteIs Nate about 5? Because my 5 year old tries to pull this all the time. Tonight he said he was "full" after two bites. i told him fine, but no more food tonight. Can you guess who was crying that he was "starving" at bed time? Yep. Hopefully he tells some teacher at school that his mom was starving him...
ReplyDeleteOscar is in this same phase! "I don't want dinner I want a snack!" I haven't gone as far as denying him snacks for not eating dinner, but if it works out you let me know. Here is my favorite line of Oscars, "My tummy is rumbling and is is not saying dinner, it is saying LOLLYPOP!" Really, Oscar? really?
ReplyDeleteOh Jenni. I don't know how you hold the line in the face of that ingenious child!
ReplyDeleteAnd Amy, I'm with you. I'd be like, "Um, honey, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" I dread these line-in-the-sand moments.
Maybe you should schedule a women's retreat and let The Decider handle this.
I nipped the whole not eating at mealtime thing in the bud a long time ago by just eliminating snacks altogether. Jordan tries to negotiate, "just a itty bitty snack, puh-wez?" I indulge sometimes, sometimes not, mixing it up so she thinks it's special when her request is granted. And the occasional cereal bar cures most bedtime shenanigans.
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait to hear how it went. Cause then I will pull that on my little one.
ReplyDeleteIt actually went pretty well, overall! He complained a bit through the day but it was a fairly busy day so I think that helped distract him! Now we've had two nights where he's eaten well, so fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Nate will be 5 this month! So maybe it's a 5 yr old thing. And mom, so you will feel better, I'll tell you that we let him have an apple after he'd berm swimming. See? Are we not merciful?
Jenni, that line of Oscar's is priceless!
I think I do need to cut back some on the snacking, though. It had gotten a little out of hand!
Been swimming, not berm swimming. Though that could probably make one hungry, too!
ReplyDelete