I credit most of that to one of our household rules: "You eat what is fixed or you do without... Mom is not a short-order cook!". Now like I said, my kids haven't been SUPER picky eaters so this rule worked for us. There have never been any nutritional issues or worries, and I think Rosey Posey is the only one who was stubborn enough to skip a meal. She only did it once and was happy when dinner time came after refusing lunch. There have been pleanty meals where someone didn't like the food and was the last one to finish due to the procrastination of eating, but no one has ever really gone hungry.
When doing my meal planning I try to take into consideration the family's preferences. Bubee dose not like spicy food. Since I don't like it and Little Lady doesn't need it, I really try to stay away from spicy food. Rosey Posey doesn't like tomato soup, so the only time there is tomato soup is when I'm fixing grilled cheese. That way she still has something to eat. I also love to get everyone's feedback on dishes. When I fix something new I like to hear what they think, this way I can plan for next time.
Bubee eats ALL the time. Our family joke is we are not saving for collage, we are saving for a food fund for his teen years. He is the youngest in his class (July Birthday) and the tallest. One of our Doctors estimates he will be about 6'8" when he's full grown, so you can imagine what kind of food it takes to fuel that kind of growth. I keep a large supply of healthy snacks in the house.
About a month ago Bubee started not wanting ANYTHING I fixed for dinner. I was blind-sided! Getting him to eat was a battle every night and there were many times that 30 min after everyone else was done he was still starring at his plateful. He would always finish his dinner... eventually, but I was getting tiered of the struggle.
Then one day while meal planning I had an idea: Let him plan the meals, then there was no way he could refuse to eat! Great idea, but I didn't want pizza every night, so a compromise: If he eats his dinner each night without complaining, then once a week he gets to pick ANY normal meal for dinner (This way he can't pick Ice Cream Sundaes or something like that). We chose Tuesday nights since that's what works with our schedule.
I do all my grocery shopping on Mondays. So now, every Monday he 'places his order' for Tuesday nights. This keeps him from changing his mind 5 min before dinner and gives me enough time to plan and prepare. I have been so pleasantly surprised! Of course the first week he wanted pizza, so to make it fun we made a Snowman Pizza. After that it has been nice. One week he asked for breakfast for dinner; This means eggs, bacon, biscuits, and gravy. Another week he wanted fish.
It has been so wonderful! And through out the week usually a quick reminder of his Tuesday night privilege and he's more than happy to finish dinner. Some nights, if he's not thrilled with dinner, he will talk about his plans for that upcoming Tuesday night; but he always finishes his dinner now with minimal conflict!
It has been so successful that Thursday nights Rosey Posey gets to pick dinner. I like it because that's two less dinners I have to plan each week. And with Rosey Posey being 11, some weeks she not only plans dinner, but prepares it too. This has been a great tool in teaching her some household management skills.
So now, dinner time has once again become a peaceful family gathering at the dinner table with plenty of joy, peace and love!
