S, my daughter is not really into eating in general especially meat; however, I try everyday to give her some chicken hidden in rice or beef hidden in rice ‘cause she need protein. I give her egg too sometimes. Note that I don’t even force her to eat her veggie which I recalled my parents forced me to eat when I was a kid. I give her fruits instead which she chows on
Last night, her menu was not bad (to me). It was 5 dinosaur nuggets and a 2”x1” roll of rice for dinner. During dinner, she tends to talk and play while we eat and when she’s bored, she’ll get off her seat and walk to hubby and talk to him and come hug me and stuff so she doesn’t have to eat. At around 7:10 PM, she asked if she could have a donut hole if she finishes her plate. I said YES! I even give her added incentive. I up the ante and said “If you finish your plate on 7:20 PM you get one donut hole. If you finish your plate on 7:15 PM you get 2 donut holes. It took awhile to help her to understand how much time is involved. By the time she understood, she realized that she’s not able to make it in time so she said “Mom, I don’t want donut hole anymore.”
Me: “OK. You still got to finish your plate"
S: “I’ll eat the rice and nuggets but not the ketchup”
Me: “ You don’t have to eat the ketchup”
After all the negotiating, her behaviors got worst. She starts playing with the ketchup using her index finger even though I’ve told her not to several times earlier. By this time hubby is in mad because she didn’t listen when we asked nicely. She just ignored me when I asked her not to stick her finger in the ketchup multiple times so he said “That’s it, NO TV for tonight and you still have to finish your plate."
I feel bad now so I sat with her on the table and encourage her to finish her dinner. At this point, she dropped one nugget on the floor so I told her pick it up and throw it in the trash.
Hubby’s comment: "Notice how she conveniently dropped one nugget so she doesn’t have to eat it?"
I broke down and said "Here’s the deal. Finish this nugget and that’s it. You are done."
S: "Mom, look at my big bite and she shoved the whole nugget in her little mouth"
That was the end of the torture for everyone.
Needless to say, she had no TV last night but she managed to entertain herself by listening to book on tape and did some coloring while I paid the bills. She's a great kid.
I hope she’s not traumatized by the daily struggle and have some kind of eating disorder when she grows up. What can be done to make mealtime more fun and happy?
Workout Log
Time: 57 min
Ave. heart rate: 151 b/m
In zone: 53 min
Kcal: 460
I felt weak. It was a struggle to get to 400 cal.
1 comment:
I think it's tough but maybe you shouldn't worry so much about it. She'll want to eat when she's hungry. When she wants to eat then make her eat the food you want her to eat. I know that I'm trained to eat by the clock and I don't think that's such a good thing ... I often eat when I'm not even remotely hungry but just because it's the right time.
I understand she can't always have it her way but she's so cute!
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