How do i get my nearly 4 year old to eat what i make everyone for dinner?

Question

He is horrid to try to feed at this mealtime. I have tried making him have it for breakfast the next morning and he won't have it he won't have it for the rest of the day either he'd rather go hungry. Any ideas? He's driving me insane.

Answer 1

He will eat it when he gets hungry enough and when he has had nothing else.

Answer 2

Trying to make him eat it for breakfast the next morning won't work because you're just creating stress about it.  Simply fix his plate with the meal you prepared, sit it in front of him.  If he doesn't eat it, ask, "are you finished?  This is your chance to eat.  You won't get anything later".  If he makes the decision to leave the table without eating, allow him (but not until the mealtime is over for everyone else).  

DO NOT give him anything else for the rest of the evening except a drink of water if he asks (no juice, milk or snacks).  Do not give in, even if you have a snack, he doesn't.  If he goes to bed hungry, he'll be fine.  Make him live with his decision not to eat his dinner.  By doing this, the next time he gets dinner placed in front of him, he'll remember that he went to bed without eating the night before.  It might not matter enough to him that time either, or the next time.  But eventually, after a while (maybe a week, maybe longer), he will realize that he is not going to get anything else and if he is hungry enough, he'll eat.  If he isn't hungry, then it doesn't matter if he eats or not.



The idea is to not create stress about it.  Don't try to persuade him to eat, just  remind him that this is his chance to eat and he wont get anything later.  When he wants to get down, let him.  No stress.  Stress only confuses the issue at hand which is, 'is he hungry enough to eat or not'?

*******Thumbs down for my suggestion?  Funny, but I have five kids of my own and the last four of them eat EVERYTHING I put in front of them...literally.  The first one, I didn't know any better and I gave him what he wanted, so now at 15, he is still very picky.   People don't like my way becaue it puts the parent in charge and most parents are too wimpy to take the charge, but the proof is in the children themselves.

Answer 3

I never understood the concept of forcing people to eat something they don't want to eat. How would you feel if I sat you down and sad you HAD to eat something you didn't like????? It just doesn't make sense. I grew up in a home where we often all were eating different things.

Answer 4

Just calmly tell him that's all there is, and if he doesn't eat it let him go hungry. Don't let him get down from the table, though - he can sit there and watch everyone else eat. Unless he really dislikes that meal, most kids will eat something at that point through pure boredom.

You could also try letting him help choose what it will be. When my kids were awful at eating vegetables I used to let them choose what it would be, with two rules - they had to eat it (or the next day they didn't get to choose), and it had to be different from what we had the day before. We spent a long time alternating broccoli and carrots :)

Answer 5

Don't make him eat it for breakfast.  Just make sure he knows that it's all there is for dinner.  

In our house, we don't make it an issue how much anybody eats, except that everyone's expected to take one polite bite of everything (literally one bite, without rude comments).  We also make sure that there's something like whole-grain bread, fruit, and milk available with each meal.  If they eat a lot, fine.  If they eat a bite and then have bread, milk, and fruit, fine.  If they eat a bite and declare themselves not hungry anymore, that's fine, too.  We don't even make it a topic of discussion, but except for fruit and water no other food is available between scheduled snacks and meals.  Over time, my formerly picky eaters have started to enjoy pretty much everything.  It does take a lot of tries to like a new food, and one of the ways to really make someone hate something is to force them to eat it.  

I feel successful since one of the most requested dinners around here now is a giant salad!

Answer 6

My daughter is going to be 4 next month and I have to make her seperate meals alot. She likes toddler food- macaroni & chesse, yogurt, Lunchables, hot dogs, etc. and I am a steak and potatoes kind of person. She will eat vegetables along side it.