We have 2 DCs who are 3 and 5. I have perhaps a skewed view of food as I’m quite a picky eater.
When I grew up we had table rules of eating everything on your plate before getting up which meant I would sometimes force myself to eat things I didn’t like and often feel sick-I now avoid a lot of these foods.
Because of this, i absolutely don’t force my children to eat everything. We have the usual toddler preferences for beige but, especially during school holidays I try to encourage variety.
My rule is this: you have to try everything on your plate (and I might give you something you’ve tried before that you’ve said you don’t like). But you don’t have to eat everything. And if you don’t like the dish, you have two options: porridge or weetabix.
Last week my 5 year old had two nights of rejecting the food and having weetabix or porridge. But he also had Thai fried rice, a veg curry, the usual easy jacket potato, chicken wing bbq and a cod dish. I think having a couple of evenings of weetabix in amongst that isn’t too bad? And he’s tried some new foods he enjoyed.
I have two friends with similar aged children. They disagree with my approach, but equally have differing views. One thinks I shouldn’t let my kids ‘try’ and then ‘reject’ healthy foods and they should be encouraged to eat it all.
The other thinks that only offering weetabix or porridge as alternatives is cruel and if I’m going to give them ‘exotic’ (her words) food, I should then make them something more conventional as a ‘safe’ option instead.
Unless Mumsnet overwhelming says otherwise, I don’t think my approach is wrong (but I’m probably over sensitive due to my own issues)? But the conversation got quite heated and we agreed to disagree!