WWYD in This Meal Scenario?

[DancingQueen]

So let's just say that I prepare lunch.
Lunch is Macaroni & Cheese
sliced hot dogs
peas
pears

Most of the dcks will eat atleast 3 of those options.
But what if you have a child that will only eat the pears?

What would you do?

[TGT09]

Honestly, I have several kids that would do this and I don't serve fruit until after they have finished the main items or most of it.

[MARSTELAC]

I care for 11 children plus my own kids (one counts in my numbers). They all don't like the same foods. I send home a menu the week before for the week ahead. My rule is "take a bite, be polite". The kids must take a sufficient bite of each type of food that is on the plate. If they finish it ALL, they may have seconds on any one or all of the foods offered that day. If they do not finish it ALL, they get no seconds. I also do one serving of milk at the meal and if they finish and want more to drink, they get water. I am on the food program and not sure if I actually have to put all of that food in front of them or not but I do because I don't want to get into trouble. I throw tons of food away each day, it is truly a waste. The kids won't starve if they don't finish. Snacks/next meals are not that far apart. Frustrating though isn't it?

[daysofelijah]

They need to try two bites of each thing whether they like them or not. No seconds unless they try everything, and no seconds of fruit unless they eat everything.

[Jewels]

I never make a child eat, I do encourage them to take a bite of everything, I put out all food, according to the food program, you cannot withhold any food, so I give them all their food and milk, and let them eat what they want, but they may not have seconds on their fruit and stuff unless they eat everything, now if they want seconds on their veggoes I'll happily give them that! otherwise they can be all done, I have one 15 month old boy that rarely touches anything but fruit, he also wont even touch milk, I just leave him their for a little while, hoping hell nibble on other stuff, but once he gets upset I just put him down to play.

[BentleysBands]

i have achild who will only eat chicken nuggets,fries,chips....junk!

today we had hotdogs,apple slices w/caramel dip , carrots and bread...ONLY thing he ate was the bread...my thing is you will just be hungry. i make NO substitutions. parents have the choice to bring his meals and dont so its his tummy that will hurt. then when snack comes he gets something totally different than the others ie: they get fruit snacks n yogurt..he will get grapes or something.

[melskids]

So let's just say that I prepare lunch.
Lunch is Macaroni & Cheese
sliced hot dogs
peas
pears

Most of the dcks will eat atleast 3 of those options.
But what if you have a child that will only eat the pears?

What would you do?

if they will only eat the pears, then fine. they only eat pears. that is their choice.

however, before they get more pears, they have to eat the rest of their lunch.

[DancingQueen]

OK, let me add to the scenerio.

*I always save the fruit - always. No one sees it until they're pretty far into a meal.

*the one child that doesn't like the other three things sits there with his plate in front of him. Not eating any of it at all the entire time. And these things are things I KNOW he doesn't like.

*He just turned two. He refuses to take a bite. There is NO forcing him to "try" anything.

*Other children have finished their lunch - some had seconds - and I bring out the fruit.

*that boy WILL eat the pears.

What do you do?

[TGT09]

Ohhhh. Honestly, I'll be interested to see what responses you get from others on here. I'm not opposed to saying, I have no idea what I would do. :-)

[QualiTcare]

i have achild who will only eat chicken nuggets,fries,chips....junk!

today we had hotdogs,apple slices w/caramel dip , carrots and bread...ONLY thing he ate was the bread...my thing is you will just be hungry. i make NO substitutions. parents have the choice to bring his meals and dont so its his tummy that will hurt. then when snack comes he gets something totally different than the others ie: they get fruit snacks n yogurt..he will get grapes or something.

i don't understand that. if he chooses to starve at lunch - that's fine, but why punish him at snack time too? i'm sure he has no idea you're giving him grapes because he didn't eat lunch - he knows the other kids have a "good" snack and he's the only one with something different, but doesn't know why.

[QualiTcare]

if they will only eat the pears, then fine. they only eat pears. that is their choice.

however, before they get more pears, they have to eat the rest of their lunch.

i agree with that

[melskids]

then he eats pears and thats it. i dont stress too much over food or make an issue out of it. does it burn me up that food is getting wasted? sure. but you know what, i have more important battles to win so a hot dog and a scoop of mac n cheese went in the trash, so what. so the only thing he ate all day was pears, so what. i did my part by offering healthy well balanced meals. its up to him to choose to eat it.

i have a 3 yr old boy right now, 2x's a week for the last 8 months. you want to know what he has eaten since he's started here? NADA. not one bite of anything. i cant force him to eat it, nor do i want to.

just keep offering healthy choices, put less on his plate to waste, (or better yet, serve it family style) and dont stress over it.

just my opinion, of course.

[DCMom]

if they will only eat the pears, then fine. they only eat pears. that is their choice.

however, before they get more pears, they have to eat the rest of their lunch.

Same here. They will just be really hungry at snack time.

[MyAngels]

then he eats pears and thats it. i dont stress too much over food or make an issue out of it. does it burn me up that food is getting wasted? sure. but you know what, i have more important battles to win so a hot dog and a scoop of mac n cheese went in the trash, so what. so the only thing he ate all day was pears, so what. i did my part by offering healthy well balanced meals. its up to him to choose to eat it.

i have a 3 yr old boy right now, 2x's a week for the last 8 months. you want to know what he has eaten since he's started here? NADA. not one bite of anything. i cant force him to eat it, nor do i want to.

just keep offering healthy choices, put less on his plate to waste, (or better yet, serve it family style) and dont stress over it.

just my opinion, of course.

I agree with you. I serve healthy options, following food program guidelines. I don't hesitate to offer seconds, thirds, whatever they want. I'm not going to turn mealtime into a battleground, and have learned over the years that if you just keep offering the good stuff, they eventually widen their tastes. That, and I don't like the idea of someone going hungry because I wouldn't give a second helping.

[DBug]

My only rule is that they need to eat their firsts before they get seconds! I don't care what, how much or in what order they eat what's in front of them, but everyone gets the same items and portions. And if they want more of something, they need to finish everything on their plate first.

I could get really stressed about the whole eating issue, so I have to choose not to worry about it . Like somebody said before, this isn't the hill I want to die on, there are more important battles.

In this case, I would much rather the child ate the pears than nothing at all. And, I'd rather the kids see fruit as a regular part of the meal, rather than the dessert (which we don't have anyway around here) -- I think it teaches them to make fruit part of their normal diet rather than an occasional treat, as they get older and start making their own meals. Just my two cents