I never want to cook another meal for the rest of my life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i am only cooking for two, but we have several days we are not home for dinner. i usually get a couple things ready in the fridge on sunday or monday and make things from that during the week when we are home.

for instance i might have a pound of cooked chicken. i can add some to a salad, make gyros or add some to a pasta. my husband doesn't care what we eat and i don't care enough to make a big effort. we always have something to eat.

if i had kids here i wouldn't have them eating chicken nuggets every night, though. i would cook actual food.

Hahahaha, I want this poster to have known ds and then come back and post in a few years.

We cook "actual food" almost every day, because that's what we eat. We have a picky eater who eats maybe 10% of what we eat. I always have stuff like chicken nuggets, peanut butter for toast, simple cheddar cheese, apple sauce, etc. Because it's incredibly rare that the picky eater will be willing to eat enough of the "actual food" we eat to not be hungry.

Last week I made this delicious pasta with an arugula and pistachio pesto that I thought was super kid friendly -- I made it because I wanted a spring pasta but also because I thought farfalle with a green sauce would be appealing.

Not one bite. We heated up chicken nuggets and frozen peas both nights we ate it. Oh well. At least I enjoyed it.

I wouldn’t heat up chicken nuggets and peas for him. He can heat up his own nuggets and peas if that’s the alternative.

I phave a rule that you can always go and make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you don’t like what we are having for dinner. I showed all of my kids how to make it as early as they could, and I kept everything where they could reach it. They all went through about a week of eating PB&J every night when they were about four, and then never again. It’s too much hassle.

Congratulations? Your kids probably hate you, FYI.

Dude. I’m just telling you to sit with your husband and eat the delicious dinner you made. Teach your kids how to microwave their own nuggets if that’s what they want!

And yes, my kids do hate me about 30% of the time, but that is because they are teenagers. Yours will too.
But we still sit around the dinner table and talk for an hour or so every night.

The reason your kids likely hate you is that you read a perfectly normal story about a poster making a healthy meal for her kids and one of them totally rejecting it and having chicken nuggets instead, and decided to criticize her for not making the kid heat up the chicken nuggets himself.

For all you know, the kid in question is 4, and even if he's not, it's actually fine for the adults to do it. The PP wasn't complaining about hearing up the nuggets, just disappointed her kid wouldn't eat the meal she prepared and thought was very tasty.

Also nuggets taste a lot better heated in the oven. Like a million times better

I didn’t mean to criticize anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i am only cooking for two, but we have several days we are not home for dinner. i usually get a couple things ready in the fridge on sunday or monday and make things from that during the week when we are home.

for instance i might have a pound of cooked chicken. i can add some to a salad, make gyros or add some to a pasta. my husband doesn't care what we eat and i don't care enough to make a big effort. we always have something to eat.

if i had kids here i wouldn't have them eating chicken nuggets every night, though. i would cook actual food.

Hahahaha, I want this poster to have known ds and then come back and post in a few years.

We cook "actual food" almost every day, because that's what we eat. We have a picky eater who eats maybe 10% of what we eat. I always have stuff like chicken nuggets, peanut butter for toast, simple cheddar cheese, apple sauce, etc. Because it's incredibly rare that the picky eater will be willing to eat enough of the "actual food" we eat to not be hungry.

Last week I made this delicious pasta with an arugula and pistachio pesto that I thought was super kid friendly -- I made it because I wanted a spring pasta but also because I thought farfalle with a green sauce would be appealing.

Not one bite. We heated up chicken nuggets and frozen peas both nights we ate it. Oh well. At least I enjoyed it.

I wouldn’t heat up chicken nuggets and peas for him. He can heat up his own nuggets and peas if that’s the alternative.

I phave a rule that you can always go and make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you don’t like what we are having for dinner. I showed all of my kids how to make it as early as they could, and I kept everything where they could reach it. They all went through about a week of eating PB&J every night when they were about four, and then never again. It’s too much hassle.

Congratulations? Your kids probably hate you, FYI.

Dude. I’m just telling you to sit with your husband and eat the delicious dinner you made. Teach your kids how to microwave their own nuggets if that’s what they want!

And yes, my kids do hate me about 30% of the time, but that is because they are teenagers. Yours will too.
But we still sit around the dinner table and talk for an hour or so every night.

The reason your kids likely hate you is that you read a perfectly normal story about a poster making a healthy meal for her kids and one of them totally rejecting it and having chicken nuggets instead, and decided to criticize her for not making the kid heat up the chicken nuggets himself.

For all you know, the kid in question is 4, and even if he's not, it's actually fine for the adults to do it. The PP wasn't complaining about hearing up the nuggets, just disappointed her kid wouldn't eat the meal she prepared and thought was very tasty.

Also nuggets taste a lot better heated in the oven. Like a million times better

I didn’t mean to criticize anyone.

It's likely an impulse you are unaware of. Someone will share something with you, and you instinctively correct it, or add an "oh you should" to it. To you, this is not critical, it's just sharing your thoughts and ideas. You are unaware of how the overstep (telling people what they should do, or suggesting you know how to do it better) is inherently judgmental or critical. But it is the sort of thing that ribs a lot of people the wrong way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Letting your kids go hungry will cure most picky eating. But most parents, including me, don’t do that, just like we don’t do physical punishment either.

The old ways must have been much easier for parents. And the way we parent now has real costs to making parenting exhausting and not an attractive prospect for the next generation.

Letting your kids go hungry is still a tactic recommended by some nutritionists. And I can verify from experience that it does work across an extended family worth of kids with very, very different personalities. And no, kids without sensory issues who are NT won't starve this way, not even close.

But that's a HUGE caveat. If there's a medical issue or a difference in processing, sensing, or something like that you can't do this to your kids. Then it's cruel. I have a relative who is incredibly picky, but she has sensory issues. Making her go hungry until she would eat what the rest of the family was eating would have been awful, and would have backfired badly. She already struggles to maintain a healthy weight.

The problem of course is that if you have a kid with sensory issues, everyone thinks you are just making excuses when you explain that they have sensory issues. It's very annoying to have a picky eater who you know is doing their best to eat what they can, and every well-meaning friend and relative wants to give you advice on it and don't understand that it's not normal pickiness.

I realized a couple years ago that when other people talk about "picky eaters" they mean kids who want pizza and french fries all the time, resist eating veggies, maybe don't like to eat a lot of things when they are prepared differently than they are at home. That's not a picky eater! That's just a normal kid. Your average kid will be situationally picky and resistant to certain foods. A picky eater is a kid who struggles to eat at all, even at home, even familiar foods. Who can lose their appetite or even develop a gag reflex when faced with a broad range of very typical foods.

Kids only want pizza and french fries all the time if that's what they are used to at home. Same with resisting veggies. Those kids are the ones who easily can be taught to eat most anything (that they would normally eat at home) by being told "if you don't like it you can wait until the next meal to eat," Ellyn Satter style.

And eventually those kids can also be trained to at least try/eat the things that are different or unexpected by the same method.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i am only cooking for two, but we have several days we are not home for dinner. i usually get a couple things ready in the fridge on sunday or monday and make things from that during the week when we are home.

for instance i might have a pound of cooked chicken. i can add some to a salad, make gyros or add some to a pasta. my husband doesn't care what we eat and i don't care enough to make a big effort. we always have something to eat.

if i had kids here i wouldn't have them eating chicken nuggets every night, though. i would cook actual food.

Hahahaha, I want this poster to have known ds and then come back and post in a few years.

We cook "actual food" almost every day, because that's what we eat. We have a picky eater who eats maybe 10% of what we eat. I always have stuff like chicken nuggets, peanut butter for toast, simple cheddar cheese, apple sauce, etc. Because it's incredibly rare that the picky eater will be willing to eat enough of the "actual food" we eat to not be hungry.

Last week I made this delicious pasta with an arugula and pistachio pesto that I thought was super kid friendly -- I made it because I wanted a spring pasta but also because I thought farfalle with a green sauce would be appealing.

Not one bite. We heated up chicken nuggets and frozen peas both nights we ate it. Oh well. At least I enjoyed it.

I wouldn’t heat up chicken nuggets and peas for him. He can heat up his own nuggets and peas if that’s the alternative.

I phave a rule that you can always go and make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you don’t like what we are having for dinner. I showed all of my kids how to make it as early as they could, and I kept everything where they could reach it. They all went through about a week of eating PB&J every night when they were about four, and then never again. It’s too much hassle.

Congratulations? Your kids probably hate you, FYI.

Dude. I’m just telling you to sit with your husband and eat the delicious dinner you made. Teach your kids how to microwave their own nuggets if that’s what they want!

And yes, my kids do hate me about 30% of the time, but that is because they are teenagers. Yours will too.
But we still sit around the dinner table and talk for an hour or so every night.

The reason your kids likely hate you is that you read a perfectly normal story about a poster making a healthy meal for her kids and one of them totally rejecting it and having chicken nuggets instead, and decided to criticize her for not making the kid heat up the chicken nuggets himself.

For all you know, the kid in question is 4, and even if he's not, it's actually fine for the adults to do it. The PP wasn't complaining about hearing up the nuggets, just disappointed her kid wouldn't eat the meal she prepared and thought was very tasty.

Also nuggets taste a lot better heated in the oven. Like a million times better

I didn’t mean to criticize anyone.

It's likely an impulse you are unaware of. Someone will share something with you, and you instinctively correct it, or add an "oh you should" to it. To you, this is not critical, it's just sharing your thoughts and ideas. You are unaware of how the overstep (telling people what they should do, or suggesting you know how to do it better) is inherently judgmental or critical. But it is the sort of thing that ribs a lot of people the wrong way.

DP and this is a really big leap into the theraputic from one post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i am only cooking for two, but we have several days we are not home for dinner. i usually get a couple things ready in the fridge on sunday or monday and make things from that during the week when we are home.

for instance i might have a pound of cooked chicken. i can add some to a salad, make gyros or add some to a pasta. my husband doesn't care what we eat and i don't care enough to make a big effort. we always have something to eat.

if i had kids here i wouldn't have them eating chicken nuggets every night, though. i would cook actual food.

Hahahaha, I want this poster to have known ds and then come back and post in a few years.

We cook "actual food" almost every day, because that's what we eat. We have a picky eater who eats maybe 10% of what we eat. I always have stuff like chicken nuggets, peanut butter for toast, simple cheddar cheese, apple sauce, etc. Because it's incredibly rare that the picky eater will be willing to eat enough of the "actual food" we eat to not be hungry.

Last week I made this delicious pasta with an arugula and pistachio pesto that I thought was super kid friendly -- I made it because I wanted a spring pasta but also because I thought farfalle with a green sauce would be appealing.

Not one bite. We heated up chicken nuggets and frozen peas both nights we ate it. Oh well. At least I enjoyed it.

I wouldn’t heat up chicken nuggets and peas for him. He can heat up his own nuggets and peas if that’s the alternative.

I phave a rule that you can always go and make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you don’t like what we are having for dinner. I showed all of my kids how to make it as early as they could, and I kept everything where they could reach it. They all went through about a week of eating PB&J every night when they were about four, and then never again. It’s too much hassle.

Congratulations? Your kids probably hate you, FYI.

Dude. I’m just telling you to sit with your husband and eat the delicious dinner you made. Teach your kids how to microwave their own nuggets if that’s what they want!

And yes, my kids do hate me about 30% of the time, but that is because they are teenagers. Yours will too.
But we still sit around the dinner table and talk for an hour or so every night.

The reason your kids likely hate you is that you read a perfectly normal story about a poster making a healthy meal for her kids and one of them totally rejecting it and having chicken nuggets instead, and decided to criticize her for not making the kid heat up the chicken nuggets himself.

For all you know, the kid in question is 4, and even if he's not, it's actually fine for the adults to do it. The PP wasn't complaining about hearing up the nuggets, just disappointed her kid wouldn't eat the meal she prepared and thought was very tasty.

Also nuggets taste a lot better heated in the oven. Like a million times better

I didn’t mean to criticize anyone.

It's likely an impulse you are unaware of. Someone will share something with you, and you instinctively correct it, or add an "oh you should" to it. To you, this is not critical, it's just sharing your thoughts and ideas. You are unaware of how the overstep (telling people what they should do, or suggesting you know how to do it better) is inherently judgmental or critical. But it is the sort of thing that ribs a lot of people the wrong way.

DP and this is a really big leap into the theraputic from one post.

I guess. The PP was being critical ("I would makey kids prepare their own nuggets") but seems totally unaware of it. It's not really a leap so much as pointing out something that seems kind of obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Letting your kids go hungry will cure most picky eating. But most parents, including me, don’t do that, just like we don’t do physical punishment either.

The old ways must have been much easier for parents. And the way we parent now has real costs to making parenting exhausting and not an attractive prospect for the next generation.

Letting your kids go hungry is still a tactic recommended by some nutritionists. And I can verify from experience that it does work across an extended family worth of kids with very, very different personalities. And no, kids without sensory issues who are NT won't starve this way, not even close.

But that's a HUGE caveat. If there's a medical issue or a difference in processing, sensing, or something like that you can't do this to your kids. Then it's cruel. I have a relative who is incredibly picky, but she has sensory issues. Making her go hungry until she would eat what the rest of the family was eating would have been awful, and would have backfired badly. She already struggles to maintain a healthy weight.

The problem of course is that if you have a kid with sensory issues, everyone thinks you are just making excuses when you explain that they have sensory issues. It's very annoying to have a picky eater who you know is doing their best to eat what they can, and every well-meaning friend and relative wants to give you advice on it and don't understand that it's not normal pickiness.

I realized a couple years ago that when other people talk about "picky eaters" they mean kids who want pizza and french fries all the time, resist eating veggies, maybe don't like to eat a lot of things when they are prepared differently than they are at home. That's not a picky eater! That's just a normal kid. Your average kid will be situationally picky and resistant to certain foods. A picky eater is a kid who struggles to eat at all, even at home, even familiar foods. Who can lose their appetite or even develop a gag reflex when faced with a broad range of very typical foods.

Kids only want pizza and french fries all the time if that's what they are used to at home. Same with resisting veggies. Those kids are the ones who easily can be taught to eat most anything (that they would normally eat at home) by being told "if you don't like it you can wait until the next meal to eat," Ellyn Satter style.

And eventually those kids can also be trained to at least try/eat the things that are different or unexpected by the same method.

Agree, though also sometimes kids want pizza and fries all the time even if they rarely get it. We never had either of those foods growing up except on vacation, and I recall asking for them constantly. People like foods that are fatty and salty. Kids is abe basic palates because they are kids. It's not rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i am only cooking for two, but we have several days we are not home for dinner. i usually get a couple things ready in the fridge on sunday or monday and make things from that during the week when we are home.

for instance i might have a pound of cooked chicken. i can add some to a salad, make gyros or add some to a pasta. my husband doesn't care what we eat and i don't care enough to make a big effort. we always have something to eat.

if i had kids here i wouldn't have them eating chicken nuggets every night, though. i would cook actual food.

Hahahaha, I want this poster to have known ds and then come back and post in a few years.

We cook "actual food" almost every day, because that's what we eat. We have a picky eater who eats maybe 10% of what we eat. I always have stuff like chicken nuggets, peanut butter for toast, simple cheddar cheese, apple sauce, etc. Because it's incredibly rare that the picky eater will be willing to eat enough of the "actual food" we eat to not be hungry.

Last week I made this delicious pasta with an arugula and pistachio pesto that I thought was super kid friendly -- I made it because I wanted a spring pasta but also because I thought farfalle with a green sauce would be appealing.

Not one bite. We heated up chicken nuggets and frozen peas both nights we ate it. Oh well. At least I enjoyed it.

I wouldn’t heat up chicken nuggets and peas for him. He can heat up his own nuggets and peas if that’s the alternative.

I phave a rule that you can always go and make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you don’t like what we are having for dinner. I showed all of my kids how to make it as early as they could, and I kept everything where they could reach it. They all went through about a week of eating PB&J every night when they were about four, and then never again. It’s too much hassle.

Congratulations? Your kids probably hate you, FYI.

Dude. I’m just telling you to sit with your husband and eat the delicious dinner you made. Teach your kids how to microwave their own nuggets if that’s what they want!

And yes, my kids do hate me about 30% of the time, but that is because they are teenagers. Yours will too.
But we still sit around the dinner table and talk for an hour or so every night.

The reason your kids likely hate you is that you read a perfectly normal story about a poster making a healthy meal for her kids and one of them totally rejecting it and having chicken nuggets instead, and decided to criticize her for not making the kid heat up the chicken nuggets himself.

For all you know, the kid in question is 4, and even if he's not, it's actually fine for the adults to do it. The PP wasn't complaining about hearing up the nuggets, just disappointed her kid wouldn't eat the meal she prepared and thought was very tasty.

Also nuggets taste a lot better heated in the oven. Like a million times better

I didn’t mean to criticize anyone.

It's likely an impulse you are unaware of. Someone will share something with you, and you instinctively correct it, or add an "oh you should" to it. To you, this is not critical, it's just sharing your thoughts and ideas. You are unaware of how the overstep (telling people what they should do, or suggesting you know how to do it better) is inherently judgmental or critical. But it is the sort of thing that ribs a lot of people the wrong way.

DP and this is a really big leap into the theraputic from one post.

I guess. The PP was being critical ("I would makey kids prepare their own nuggets") but seems totally unaware of it. It's not really a leap so much as pointing out something that seems kind of obvious.

It’s an advice giving message board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i am only cooking for two, but we have several days we are not home for dinner. i usually get a couple things ready in the fridge on sunday or monday and make things from that during the week when we are home.

for instance i might have a pound of cooked chicken. i can add some to a salad, make gyros or add some to a pasta. my husband doesn't care what we eat and i don't care enough to make a big effort. we always have something to eat.

if i had kids here i wouldn't have them eating chicken nuggets every night, though. i would cook actual food.

Hahahaha, I want this poster to have known ds and then come back and post in a few years.

We cook "actual food" almost every day, because that's what we eat. We have a picky eater who eats maybe 10% of what we eat. I always have stuff like chicken nuggets, peanut butter for toast, simple cheddar cheese, apple sauce, etc. Because it's incredibly rare that the picky eater will be willing to eat enough of the "actual food" we eat to not be hungry.

Last week I made this delicious pasta with an arugula and pistachio pesto that I thought was super kid friendly -- I made it because I wanted a spring pasta but also because I thought farfalle with a green sauce would be appealing.

Not one bite. We heated up chicken nuggets and frozen peas both nights we ate it. Oh well. At least I enjoyed it.

I wouldn’t heat up chicken nuggets and peas for him. He can heat up his own nuggets and peas if that’s the alternative.

I phave a rule that you can always go and make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you don’t like what we are having for dinner. I showed all of my kids how to make it as early as they could, and I kept everything where they could reach it. They all went through about a week of eating PB&J every night when they were about four, and then never again. It’s too much hassle.

Congratulations? Your kids probably hate you, FYI.

Dude. I’m just telling you to sit with your husband and eat the delicious dinner you made. Teach your kids how to microwave their own nuggets if that’s what they want!

And yes, my kids do hate me about 30% of the time, but that is because they are teenagers. Yours will too.
But we still sit around the dinner table and talk for an hour or so every night.

The reason your kids likely hate you is that you read a perfectly normal story about a poster making a healthy meal for her kids and one of them totally rejecting it and having chicken nuggets instead, and decided to criticize her for not making the kid heat up the chicken nuggets himself.

For all you know, the kid in question is 4, and even if he's not, it's actually fine for the adults to do it. The PP wasn't complaining about hearing up the nuggets, just disappointed her kid wouldn't eat the meal she prepared and thought was very tasty.

Also nuggets taste a lot better heated in the oven. Like a million times better

I didn’t mean to criticize anyone.

It's likely an impulse you are unaware of. Someone will share something with you, and you instinctively correct it, or add an "oh you should" to it. To you, this is not critical, it's just sharing your thoughts and ideas. You are unaware of how the overstep (telling people what they should do, or suggesting you know how to do it better) is inherently judgmental or critical. But it is the sort of thing that ribs a lot of people the wrong way.

DP and this is a really big leap into the theraputic from one post.

I guess. The PP was being critical ("I would makey kids prepare their own nuggets") but seems totally unaware of it. It's not really a leap so much as pointing out something that seems kind of obvious.

It’s an advice giving message board.

Well then what better place to advise PP on how off-putting her advice-giving approach is?

[Anonymous]

I’d be happy to never have to eat another meal in my life. The whole thing is so tedious.

[Anonymous]

I really want to believe that kids grow out of the annoying food preferences thing. It’s already happening with one of my kids because of social situations. He is in a situation where he feels embarrassed to not eat what is there and then he ends up liking it and asking for it at home. I love that. it’s happened half a dozen times already since middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again-people who have kids that will eat anything/everything are simply just lucky. it’s luck. it’s not your parenting or your cooking. I say this as someone who’s first child literally ate everything, has never been picky and is possibly more adventurous with food than his parents. And then the second child came and humbled the superior thoughts right out of us. This was child was offered the same food and parented the same way and is the pickiest most difficult eater.

We are all just trying to survive. I hate all meal times and I look so forward to when my kids leave for college so I can go back to low stress meal times.

Hang in there. I was you and couldn’t understand why the second one didn’t eat like the first. My second is now in college and is teaching friends to cook. She eats everything now, and regrets how picky her younger self was. It can certainly get better!

[Anonymous]

I’m happy to do the cooking part. What I hate is figuring out 5-6 meals every single week that 4 people will eat.

I’m a vegetarian but not picky and am creative and enjoy trying new recipes AND am trying to fight the peri weight gain. DS has food allergies and and is a growing 14 year old who needs heavy meals. DD is ND and doesn’t “eat when she’s hungry” - she has no interest in food, particularly anything new. DH mostly eats what I cook but won’t eat certain vegetables.

So I am forever swapping ingredients to accommodate allergies, Brussels sprout / asparagus etc haters, and clinically more-than-just-picky people.