Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:From the OP's post it sounds like there are a lot of assumptions going on and no conversations. So at one meal OP observed her Step grandson picking out vegetables from the meal. From this everyone has assumed the kid won't eat any vegetables. Start my talking to the kid's parents. My kids each have their eating quirks. One thing they all have in common is they LOVE raw veggies but will not eat cooked veggies. So if they are served something with cooked carrots in it they will pick out the carrots. Give them some raw carrots and they will eat 2 pounds of them.
OP needs to step back and find out what typical meals are for the 12 year old and then figure out what the challenges really are. Maybe actually talk to the 12 year old and cook a meal together. My 12 yr old son is very picky but also loves to cook things and is amazing at taking a recipe and figuring out how to tweak it so that he would like it. Usually that means serving it 'deconstructed" so everyone can add what they like.
OP here. I had no idea that my initial post would generate 11 pages of replies! Anyway, to clarify some of the questions some of you have raised. The reason why I say 'step' is because that is the truth. I don't have children and I'm in my early 40s. I don't see myself as a grandma but that doesn't make me terrible. The kid calls me by my first name and I am fine with that. People have commented that I don't know for sure that he doesn't eat vegetables. He once launched into a five-minute monologue about why even his grandfather shouldn't like to eat vegetables either. Of course, I won't be force-feeding him anything but I don't want to stand and listen to him complaining "Ewwww…I don't like this. I want XYZ" But at the same time, I know I was raised in a different culture and that my approach about telling him that such behavior is impolite may be seen as being too direct (based on the responses here). I'm not his servant, I'm his host. I wouldn't feel any differently even if he was an adult.
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