Why not? Elementary school kids eat salads! |
| I can see why so many teens have terrible eating habits and are unadventurous. So many of you reinforce it and on top of it think you are doing a good thing. |
Yeah I'll l cut the stuff into strips (carrots, peppers, cucumbers, the lettuce ribs) into strips and let my kid dip them in ranch or hummus but I absolutely serve my first grader salad for dinner. It's weird you wouldn't even try. I took my kid Germany (my family lives there) and he didn't love everything he tried but he did try a bit of everything and found new things he liked. And he's 7, not 17. |
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If this kid were living in a 2-parent household with other siblings and did not like the family meal that was prepared for everyone and was told to find something else to eat, that would make sense.
It sounds like this is one kid, going to spend time with dad half of the time, so there are two people in the house for dinner. And he routinely makes food she will not eat and then tells her to go make a sandwich. He has to prepare the meal that HE wants, regardless of whether the kid is going to have to go make a sandwich? So he's eating alone and then she's eating alone? This is such a bizarre way to treat your child during your custodial time. I'm a single mom with one teen DD at home. When she's with me, we have dinners that we both like and we sit down and eat together. It's not hard. I can get my favorite sushi (which she doesn't like) when she's with her dad. |
I grew up with my parents making meals I didn't like all the time because I was picky, and my brother had opposite taste so someone was always going to be unhappy. I didn't even get bread and yogurt or microwaved leftovers, we ate what was on the table or went hungry. My husband was raised the same way. I think we're being FAR more accommodating and possibly coddling pickiness with offering these alternatives as is. "Nobody gets to eat Chinese food until Larla goes to college" and "no vegetable-based meals because kids are grossed out by veggies" is an INSANE way to live. Children are not house guests who visit occasionally. They are people who are learning about food FROM their parents, who do the cooking and know what an actual nutritious meal looks like. I don't make food my kids dislike every night, I even try not to do it multiple nights in a row, but saying the tastes of my 6 year old should dictate our entire family's meals indefinitely is, again, insane. |
Why not? I do sometimes. Bread on the side to help the kids fill up. My older elementary schooler will happily eat a big salad with meat, cheese, and croutons. My younger basically won't eat anything you could put on a salad, but that's why bread and fruit are always available. |
When I was 15 I lived with just my Dad for a few months when I was a kid (military move,my brother was finishing up high school one place but they wanted me to start at my new school) and Dad never really cooked what I wanted because he worked long hours and... Dad wasn't a great cook outside of his big fancy Sunday dinners. He could make a roast but he burned stir fry a lot. So if I wanted something particular, I cooked it myself. It wasn't a big deal. |
There is a pretty wide spectrum between letting kids dictate your meals and regularly making a meal over half your household does not like. I care about my child being properly nourished so if I know they don’t like tofu, I would make sure there is another source of protein they will eat with the meal. Attitudes and ideas on feeding kids have evolved, by the way. I grew up with a mom like you and I’m still mad about. She insisted on making sloppy Joe once a week. I HATED and still hate sloppy joe and it’s not any healthier than any other meat dish she would make. My favorite was a nice cheeseburger. Guess what was never on the family table? |
You would serve your kid an entree salad for dinner? My kid likes plenty of other vegetables but not salad. At that age I didn't like salad either, I developed a taste for it as an adult.... |
What a weird interpretation of the comment. Of course I'm not feeding my kid just carrots and peppers for dinner. But an adult wouldn't eat that for dinner either. But I do serve my kid what I'm eating and there's no way I'm making my kid a separate meal every day. I let my kid pick dinner tonight (he wants stir fry with peanut sauce). |
| It sounds like this is a mother problem, not a father problem. The father is providing healthy meals and the mother is undermining his parenting. I hope OP realizes that she is the bad parent. |
Oh, you got me. I just don't care about my children being properly nourished. I also grew up with a mom like me and I'm not mad about it at all! I actually feel sorry for her since she had multiple kids with different tastes. She worked hard to put dinner on the table and someone was always complaining. We had a specific meal I hated on at least a weekly basis too, since she and my brother really liked it. I made a version of it for her birthday ths year. |
In the thread where OP is threatening to go to another person's house to cook dinner, you think we're being controlling? |
A lot of women of teens, generally daughters, act like it’s a flex that their daughters are so pampered and spoiled. “She won’t eat anything except (expensive takeout).” “She likes a fresh fruit smoothie every day and throws a fit if I run out of fruit” “She insists on (skincare) and won’t use anything else! I’m going broke paying for her bath supplies.” “I had to get a funeral dress overnighted from Nordstrom because she refuses to wear anything from Kohls” they’re not even complaining! They think it’s endearing. All of these are real life examples I’ve heard. |
My Dad was a pediatrician and he had patients who were chronically constipated because their parents wouldn't even try feeding them anything but chicken nuggets. But those were usually kids who were on the spectrum. |