My Son Doesn't Eat That

[MG&Lsmom]

Um ok. What does your son eat?

Donuts, cheese, grilled cheese, crackers, french fries, chips, hot dogs, bananas

Yes, my conversation with DCM this morning regarding my menu.

DCB did not eat one single bite of food or drink even a sip of water yesterday while here for 9 hours. She's upset he's not eating because I'm not serving what he likes. She was bringing him food before we started the food program 2 months ago but it causes so much problems because everyone wanted what he had, naturally. Why eat homemade pizza and salad when little J has chips, cookies and a cheese stick for lunch?? Ugh!

And apparently DCD had some pleasant things to call me yesterday when they discussed it. DCB parroted them back to me when I placed his bbq pork, green beans, blueberries and homemade stuffing in front of him. Dropped "You %^&# S! Just like daddy says." "Shh, don't say at S's house. Only at home."

[marniewon]

Yikes!! That sounds sooooo disrespectful on the part of the dcd!! Even if it wasn't meant for you to hear, it sure says a lot about how much he likes and respects you!

Good for you for sticking to your guns and only serving healthy food! My ds (who is now 16) has always been a picky eater. I was happy that my dcp was still serving healthy meals, even if he didn't eat them. My thought was (and still is) if they are hungry enough, they'll eat it.

[countrymom]

sounds like some of the kids I have, I am just so shocked at how poor children eat. Its not like my generation grew up eating garbage, so I don't understand why many would feed thier children this.

[cillybean83]

i watched a boy like that last summer. His entire diet consisted of:

Mountain Dew
Lunchables (but only the pizza ones, and only the bread a sauce and candy)
Capt'n Crunch (but only the crunch berries)
Chocolate cake with chocolate icing
Hotdogs (but only if they're sliced up, arranged in the shape of a smily face, and given ketchup "hair")

um....wth? This kid was SIX!!! Mom saw my menu and said "oh he won't eat any of this!" so I told her she could send his food...if she sent enough for EVERYONE

he fussed and whined and pooped his pants out of anger (oh yes, i said pooped himself!) and mom pulled him because I wasn't feeding him (translation: wasn't giving her boy the empty calorie diet she allowed at home)

He's 7 now, and still in kindergarten, because mom doesn't make him read, doesn't make him eat right, doesn't make him go to bed, doesn't make him go to school, lets him hit and bite, and he still poops his pants...i thought he may have been autistic but i think he's just rotten :\

gotta love good parenting!

[safechner]

i watched a boy like that last summer. His entire diet consisted of:

Mountain Dew
Lunchables (but only the pizza ones, and only the bread a sauce and candy)
Capt'n Crunch (but only the crunch berries)
Chocolate cake with chocolate icing
Hotdogs (but only if they're sliced up, arranged in the shape of a smily face, and given ketchup "hair")

um....wth? This kid was SIX!!! Mom saw my menu and said "oh he won't eat any of this!" so I told her she could send his food...if she sent enough for EVERYONE

he fussed and whined and pooped his pants out of anger (oh yes, i said pooped himself!) and mom pulled him because I wasn't feeding him (translation: wasn't giving her boy the empty calorie diet she allowed at home)

He's 7 now, and still in kindergarten, because mom doesn't make him read, doesn't make him eat right, doesn't make him go to bed, doesn't make him go to school, lets him hit and bite, and he still poops his pants...i thought he may have been autistic but i think he's just rotten :\

gotta love good parenting!

Oh my! It sounds like his mother is spoiled brat too! I am pretty sure the kids will make fun of him if he stays in kindergarten too long, haha!

[safechner]

Um ok. What does your son eat?

Donuts, cheese, grilled cheese, crackers, french fries, chips, hot dogs, bananas

Yes, my conversation with DCM this morning regarding my menu.

DCB did not eat one single bite of food or drink even a sip of water yesterday while here for 9 hours. She's upset he's not eating because I'm not serving what he likes. She was bringing him food before we started the food program 2 months ago but it causes so much problems because everyone wanted what he had, naturally. Why eat homemade pizza and salad when little J has chips, cookies and a cheese stick for lunch?? Ugh!

And apparently DCD had some pleasant things to call me yesterday when they discussed it. DCB parroted them back to me when I placed his bbq pork, green beans, blueberries and homemade stuffing in front of him. Dropped "You %^&# S! Just like daddy says." "Shh, don't say at S's house. Only at home."

The problem is not the boy, it is his mother who allowed that happens. If I was his mother, I will tell him to eat healthy foods whether he likes or not..

I can't believe his dad allowed him to say that at home. What was he thinking?

[youretooloud]

I just had this same issue yesterday! It's infuriating.

I had a six yr old girl over for the day. (it's only one day, so she'll live)

She was very polite the whole day "Just so you know, I don't eat any fruit, vegetable, or cheese... or sandwiches". "OK.. that's fine, I don't mind if you don't eat." She said "But, I want something else".

So, she ate a cookie the whole day. I serve a very kid friendly meal all the time.. but, she would not eat any of it.

Then, he mom said "well, is it so hard to find her something she WILL eat????" (she was not polite) I said "I actually did try, but she doesn't like ANYTHING" I fixed pasta, grapes, bananas, carrots WITH Ranch, and a choice of sandwiches, and she wouldn't eat any of it... except the cookie." She said "Well, what kid would eat carrots and grapes?" (everybody else)

Good luck with her health as she gets older.

[momatheart]

He will eventually eat what is there in front of him or try it because he will be hungry enough.

We have a kid at our center 34 months who won't drink anything from a cup at snack or lunch. Dad said since he got of the bottle he won't drink juice from a cup. I should have asked about milk.

He is a picky eater and only eats snack foods. He never eats his lunch. He did yesterday start to pick at a bun and ate some of the top of it. LOL

I think eventually kids will get it. I think PARENTS need to stop letting the kids run the household. We always say, "You get what you get and you don't have a fit."

[SilverSabre25]

Loony. Absolutely loony. I do NOT understand how parents can feed their kids that much utter crap and feel good about themselves at the end of the day!

Ok, sure, lots of people probably think my DD eats "utter crap" because I let her have some sort of sweet treat/candy/cookie/etc every day...sometimes twice...and we eat out WAY too much (my fault...), and we have chips and things around that she's allowed to have. BUT--my DD will eat almost any veggie you put in front of her, prefers fruits and veggies over most sweets, almost never drinks juice, BEGS for water when she gets Sprite when we're out, doesn't like chicken nuggets (except from Chik-fil-a or homemade), and has been known to eat entire stalks of broccoli fresh off the (plant? vine? bush? Dunno what you call it!). I have to remind her to eat her chicken and not just peas, and tell her no, you can't have a banana until you finish your toast! She's been known to eat an entire bag of baby carrots over the course of an afternoon.

I do NOT feel bad about my child's diet 95% of the time...I cook at home, use real and whole ingredients, cook with things most Americans not only wouldn't recognize but wouldn't touch with a 39.5 ft pole. The other 5%, well, no one's perfect! (and most of that 5% comes when she's off at my ILs for the weekend, like now...they don't understand a child that prefers grilled chicken over mac n cheese, they eat out almost every day, and honestly don't believe that DD would much rather have Raisin Bran than Froot Loops...)

Your menu sounds extremely yummy--can I come over for lunch? :: I could use some bbq oink right now!

[TBird]

Question.....do these parents realize that their children will be going to SCHOOL some day??? "Miss McGilicutty" (the cafeteria lunch lady) is not gonna stand behind the counter and cook these kids another meal. My kid WAS the picky kid....wouldn't eat anything unless it was HOT cooked food. I told him that when he got to school he was going to starve....and sent him on his merry way!!!

[nannyde]

Question.....do these parents realize that their children will be going to SCHOOL some day??? "Miss McGilicutty" (the cafeteria lunch lady) is not gonna stand behind the counter and cook these kids another meal. My kid WAS the picky kid....wouldn't eat anything unless it was HOT cooked food. I told him that when he got to school he was going to starve....and sent him on his merry way!!!

Have you seen the state of school lunch? The kids will dig it. It's pure junk. Check out Ann Cooper http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/chefannc

Jaime Oliver is another great teacher for school food.

[wdmmom]

I've had my fair share of picky eaters. I've even had "that parent" that pulled their kid saying that I didn't feed her because I wasn't serving Lucky Charms at breakfast and Chips Ahoy at snack time. (She wasn't even here at afternoon snack time!) Duh!

I make a menu for a month at a time. Parents all can see this through my website or Facebook page.

Parents know that I only serve healthy home cooked meals and I've never had a parent complain because their child may or may not eat. I have a great set of kids but there is one that refuses fruit unless it's a banana. He's only 18 months old. I continue to offer it to every child and they are welcome to pass or eat it. I offered it so I don't feel the least bit guilty if they don't eat it.

After all, it's not my fault that parents only feed their kids chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, twinkies, ho-ho's and Suzie Q's. Childhood obesity is already a problem and I, for one, am not going to contribute to it.

[nannyde]

Parents know that I only serve healthy home cooked meals and I've never had a parent complain because their child may or may not eat. I have a great set of kids but there is one that refuses fruit unless it's a banana. He's only 18 months old. I continue to offer it to every child and they are welcome to pass or eat it. I offered it so I don't feel the least bit guilty if they don't eat it.

I never worry if a kid doesn't like some of the stuff I serve. As long as they eat most of what I serve I'm really happy. Bananas are a pretty common dislike. I've had kids who ate them at home and won't touch them here. It's not that they don't LIKE them it's they want my home made grub not something they get regularly at home. They will refuse stuff here and happily eat it at home.

One of my kids would GAG at bananas on the plate. Gag before he touched them. I kept telling his Mom that he was doing this and she tells me he eats them all the time at home.

I didn't believe.... I must admit...

I got a phone video of him scarfing them at home in his little high chair.



I don't remember your kid refusing a good plate of grub. ::

[Symphony]

Have you seen the state of school lunch? The kids will dig it. It's pure junk. Check out Ann Cooper http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/chefannc

Jaime Oliver is another great teacher for school food.

I heart Jamie Oliver

I am having a big struggle with school lunch here. The school used to have a microwave, so I would send my older children to school with the same things we were eating at home and they could heat it up right there. Well, apparantly, they do not have a microwave anymore and they have no interest in replacing it or allowing one to be donated. So now I am left with the choice of sending my kids with money for the hot lunch at school, or a literal cold lunch from home. I consider myself a decent cook, and I am fairly creative, but I have not been able to come up with a heck of a lot of variety when it comes to what I can send them with. It keeps me up at night and I don't know what to do.


Sorry to derail....
I have two families that say their children will only eat or drink pure cr*p. Those are the ones I enjoy telling the most at the end of the day how much little Johnny loved his spinach or how sweet Susie couldn't get enough of her salmon. Makes me sick to think about what these kids eat at home. I have one family where mom cooks a nice meal every night, and then heats up some chicken nuggets for her son. Every single night. Never even offers him what they are eating. Just blows my mind!

[MG&Lsmom]

Well Mom and I had another discussion at pick up about his eating and the words he used at the table today. She's not surprised he started dropping f-bombs (he's 2 btw!). He apparently does it at home, gets it from DCD and they just laugh and tell him "we don't say that". She was shocked that he parroted what appeared to be DCD calling me f-ing S___. She said she's never heard DCD refer to me that way and that they both love me to bits (uh huh).

She wants to go from 2 day to 4-5 days because DCD can now work all week with a buddy doing landscaping. Hopefully they will start that in another week or two and this child will start to eat something. He's not overweight. Quite the opposite. He's 36" tall and barely 23lbs @ 2y3m. And he appears low tone, gross and fine motor delayed, and spectrumy. I base this on the fact I have 2 kids on the spectrum and EI is here 2x/wk for my own 2yo and she's made several comments about him needing an eval. Mom refuses. But he sits at home in front of the tv, has never been around other kids ever and hardly eats. Of course he's low everything. I can't believe Mom doesn't see how it's harming him. He's a very easy boy to take care of and when his personality comes out he's a joy to have around. One of those sad cases where being here is probably better for him.