Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Toddler had no dinner tonight

There is a first for everything, right? Tonight was the first time Tristan did not eat a thing for dinner. Why? He was tantruming and didn't want to eat what we wanted him to eat. His unfinished corn bake from last night was combined with his leftover corn bake from daycare's lunch today. That was his dinner. If he finished that, we would have given him part of a ham and cheese slider. He only wanted the ham and cheese slider. We tried offering the corn bake for about 30 minutes and he screamed and cried and then we called it quits. Everything was taken away and he went up for his bath. After his bath, he went straight to bed. No playing, no reading, nothing. Bedtime was an hour earlier today. This was another first.

It's so sad really. I'm not sure who is more stubborn. Him or us. Or him or Jean-Louis. If it were just me I would have done thinks a bit differently. People talk about being careful with implementing discipline because it could create issues for the child in the future. What about the issues the child is creating for us parents? Now and in the future? I joked on Twitter about needing to save money now for therapy for myself in the future. I could use some now too. It's just one of those days, you know? :(

2 comments:

harriet glynn said...

So hard eh? Funnily a lot of folks were a little shocked that you would hold T hostage in his high chair but I feel that I have been too slack about letting Theo off the eating hook as he will drink milk all day if I let him. Last night, I forced him to eat a spoonful of pasta while he was yelling GUGU (milk) and lo and behold, he the WHOLE BOWL! Toddlers ... *sigh*

Unknown said...

This is me looking from the outside. I am not living it so it is of course easy to give advice or suggestions that could be totally wrong and off base.
Whenever we are with my sister in law and brother in law they make a huge deal about food. The kids are 7 and 5 and they nag them constantly about food. When they don't eat enough they spoon feed them. Yes at 7 and 5 they spoon feed them. It is such a huge issue that meals are unpleasant and sometimes I think my niece and nephew do it because of all the attention they get from not eating. My niece, the younger of the two was a good eater. But to me it seemed like when she saw all the negative attention her brother got for his non-eating she started doing it too.
I am probably too slack about eating at my house. I do consider my kids decent eaters. They eat veggies and fruit and drink lots of water. They also get treats. But if they don't eat at dinner (their worst meal of the day), I just let it go. But they understand if they don't eat dinner, no snacks later.

I don't know what the answer is, but it even sounds unpleasant for you right now. If it is ok with your hubby maybe just ease off for a bit. Make it as much of a non issue as you can and see if that helps. I am sure it is just a phase. Take care,
Lisa

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