Teen son ate an entire large container of Whole Foods smoked mozzarella pasta salad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just thought of this thread because I made a double-batch of a much beloved baked pasta dish last night, and this morning I cut the leftovers into equal pieces and told the kids they were welcome to have theirs for breakfast or take it for lunch. If someone had come downstairs last night and eaten half of what was left, no matter how hungry they were, I would have been mad.

I can see being upset if you specifically said that everyone has their own leftovers.

In our house though, any 'unclaimed' leftovers in the fridge are pretty much a free for all. No rules. I don't care.

It seems pretty rude to take the majority of a particular coveted dish and not leave any for anyone else.

DP here. I am truly shocked how many posters don't agree this is rude. It's like serving yourself a huge portion at a family style meal before the dish has even made it all the way around the table.

I think it just depends on the culture in the family and what the norms are. If I were to buy something like this and I was planning to use to it for a meal, I would let my ravenous boys know it was off limits. This is because for the most part, anything in the fridge or pantry is fair game unless otherwise told. This is how it is in our family.

Yes, and most parents within means, have a strong maternal imperative to keep their growing children well fed

False equivalence. Well fed does not need to equal eating more than a reasonable amount of one thing. Again, it’s just common manners, which are clearly lacking!

OP’s son’s appetite is increasing and it’s not going decrease for quite a while. If he needs more calories now and in the next several years, she needs to provide him with more food, and he may need more servings of various foods than the rest of the family does. OP can decide which things she buys more of (doesn’t have to be pasta salad), but she needs to communicate to her son which things he’s expected to share equally and which things he can go to town on. Telling him to just eat the same amount of food as everyone else isn’t the solution.

While her son may require more food at this time, he can still be limited on some things, such as the pasta salad. I’m sure OP didn’t have a barren frig and pantry. He could have had a serving of pasta salad and also made him self a quesadilla or PB sandwich or scrambled eggs tuna sandwich. I’m sure OP wouldn’t care if he had some pasta salad then ate 2 PB sandwiches. It isn’t a matter of if he can eat or not. Teens are lazy and they want to eat want is the easiest and tastiest thing with least amount of effort.

Yes, that was the point of the post you’re replying to. OP needs to communicate to her son any limits on what he can eat. He’s not a mind reader. OP sees a difference between his eating 2-3 peanut butter sandwiches versus a pound of this pasta salad, but he didn’t, so she needs to spell out her limits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just thought of this thread because I made a double-batch of a much beloved baked pasta dish last night, and this morning I cut the leftovers into equal pieces and told the kids they were welcome to have theirs for breakfast or take it for lunch. If someone had come downstairs last night and eaten half of what was left, no matter how hungry they were, I would have been mad.

I can see being upset if you specifically said that everyone has their own leftovers.

In our house though, any 'unclaimed' leftovers in the fridge are pretty much a free for all. No rules. I don't care.

It seems pretty rude to take the majority of a particular coveted dish and not leave any for anyone else.

DP here. I am truly shocked how many posters don't agree this is rude. It's like serving yourself a huge portion at a family style meal before the dish has even made it all the way around the table.

I think it just depends on the culture in the family and what the norms are. If I were to buy something like this and I was planning to use to it for a meal, I would let my ravenous boys know it was off limits. This is because for the most part, anything in the fridge or pantry is fair game unless otherwise told. This is how it is in our family.

Yes, and most parents within means, have a strong maternal imperative to keep their growing children well fed

False equivalence. Well fed does not need to equal eating more than a reasonable amount of one thing. Again, it’s just common manners, which are clearly lacking!

OP’s son’s appetite is increasing and it’s not going decrease for quite a while. If he needs more calories now and in the next several years, she needs to provide him with more food, and he may need more servings of various foods than the rest of the family does. OP can decide which things she buys more of (doesn’t have to be pasta salad), but she needs to communicate to her son which things he’s expected to share equally and which things he can go to town on. Telling him to just eat the same amount of food as everyone else isn’t the solution.

While her son may require more food at this time, he can still be limited on some things, such as the pasta salad. I’m sure OP didn’t have a barren frig and pantry. He could have had a serving of pasta salad and also made him self a quesadilla or PB sandwich or scrambled eggs tuna sandwich. I’m sure OP wouldn’t care if he had some pasta salad then ate 2 PB sandwiches. It isn’t a matter of if he can eat or not. Teens are lazy and they want to eat want is the easiest and tastiest thing with least amount of effort.

I mean, I wouldn't limit this to teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just thought of this thread because I made a double-batch of a much beloved baked pasta dish last night, and this morning I cut the leftovers into equal pieces and told the kids they were welcome to have theirs for breakfast or take it for lunch. If someone had come downstairs last night and eaten half of what was left, no matter how hungry they were, I would have been mad.

I can see being upset if you specifically said that everyone has their own leftovers.

In our house though, any 'unclaimed' leftovers in the fridge are pretty much a free for all. No rules. I don't care.

It seems pretty rude to take the majority of a particular coveted dish and not leave any for anyone else.

DP here. I am truly shocked how many posters don't agree this is rude. It's like serving yourself a huge portion at a family style meal before the dish has even made it all the way around the table.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just thought of this thread because I made a double-batch of a much beloved baked pasta dish last night, and this morning I cut the leftovers into equal pieces and told the kids they were welcome to have theirs for breakfast or take it for lunch. If someone had come downstairs last night and eaten half of what was left, no matter how hungry they were, I would have been mad.

I can see being upset if you specifically said that everyone has their own leftovers.

In our house though, any 'unclaimed' leftovers in the fridge are pretty much a free for all. No rules. I don't care.

It seems pretty rude to take the majority of a particular coveted dish and not leave any for anyone else.

DP here. I am truly shocked how many posters don't agree this is rude. It's like serving yourself a huge portion at a family style meal before the dish has even made it all the way around the table.

+100

This is the issue for me, not how many calories a teenager eats. But clearly others don’t agree.