to not let dd go to MacDonald's til she eats better at home?

[Amykins35]

DD goes dancing tonight which finishes at 6.30. We usually go to MacDonald's afterwards as it's late to cook tea. Usually she eats really well at home/in her packed lunch but in the past few weeks she's barely eating and definitely not healthily. For example, she used to eat porridge and fruit for breakfast, fruit for snack,Ham sandwich/wrap and snack a jacks, pepper, cucumber, yoghurt, 2 portions fruit and cake, after school she'd have a portion of fruit and cheese and crackers then something like spaghetti, meatballs and garlic bread for tea followed by fruit and chocolate mousse for pudding.

Now a typical day is nothing for breakfast, nothing for snack, she eats the snack a jacks and cake out of lunch box then leaves the rest, after school she doesn't want any healthy snacks so doesn't get anything yet still doesn't eat tea. Tonight when we go to the park she'd like an icecream but I'm not happy to buy that or MacDonald's while she's not eating well the rest of the time. I appreciate she won't starve but lack of food/only unhealthy food makes her Moody and also it's annoying to waste so much food when I ask what she'd like in her lunch box and she tells me but then doesn't eat it.

AIBU to say she can't have icecream/MacDonald's until she starts eating better at home/stops wasting food? I've tried reducing portions by the way but she still doesn't eat it.

Amy my daughter was a bit like this, would refuser or eat a mouse portion of the healthy dinner, then would eat huge portions of the unhealthy food like cake or (didn't go often but) MD's. She would also hold out til the unhealthy or very carby food was available, even if that was the next day! In the end, I told her straight that her strategy had been spotted, and that she needed to eat the proper dinner/lunch/breakfast before considering eating any treats (or I would give them). She even has to eat one vegetable with every meal now.

i don't feel mean, I felt meaner when she was getting tubbier and tubbier eating all white carbs and crap food treats as her main food. I wouldn't do the ballet/dance day any differently, I would get her a MD one week, an ice-cream the next (both on same day bit too much perhaps?) BUT the rest of the time, I would make it clear to her she needs her nutritious food first and if a decent portion of that isn't eaten, she isn't obviously hungry and don't let her fill up sneakily on snacks/cakes instead.

I think it's a slippery slope.

Firstly, in her lunch box put no treats (no cakes and no snack a jacks), only fresh healthy veg/fruit and a sandwich or sandwich alternative. Water.

Secondly, don't make an issue of food or pressurise her into eating. Provide the healthy food and leave her be - don't give alternatives. It's OK to talk about why some foods are healthy/unhealthy but not OK to nag her to eat. Chat about other more interesting fun things at meal times.

Thirdly, I think a Mcdonalds is a rather large and too regular treat. What about an alternative healthier version at home? Home made cut potato wedges and a home made beef burger in a wholemeal bun. You could even have fun making some healthy ice creams at home. There are some great recipes on line if you look. Alternatively you could make your own ice lollys in the freezer with fruit/juice.

Maybe she could have a Mcdonalds meal after a week of eating a small amount of breakfast without nagging?

My kids do have treats but only something small and not daily - a bit of dark chocolate or a slice of flap jack etc

Also try different breakfasts as kids do get board - an egg with soldiers, scrabbled eggs, muesli, porridge, oatabix, pancakes with fruit etc.

Also you give lots of fruit - but that actually is high sugar too despite all the viamins. Less fruit and more veg with dips is better.

Reduce potions? That sounds alot for a small child maybe it's just to daunting. Half a sandwich, done carrot sticks a small yogurt and an spe would be plenty. And cheese crackers and fruit is a lunch not a snack. She's probably just not hungry. I'm not a fan of macdo skids but it could help re kindle An interest in food and just get her the fruit bag and orange juice instead of milkshake and Ice cream. You won't win this by upsetting her over more food.

Damn typo. An apple that should say

Macdonalds- Ffs iPhone

It might be that the weather is nicer and she's more keen to get out and play at lunch times? I noticed DD used to be like this. SHe's generally a slow eater and after barely touching her packed lunches she said she didn't have time and all her friends were waiting for her to hurry up and play.

I just made sure everything was easy to open and eat and only put a treat in there on a friday.

I'd carry on as normal but not mention the not eating don't make an issue out of it or it will become one

Forcing the issue can backfire badly IMO and E. There was a thread by a poster who was trying to force her DD to eat a carrot. There were a lot of other posters who said they had eating disorders due to exactly that sort of thing.

My 14 year old ate everything i gave him till he was 6. From then on his intake got smaller and his fussiness increased.

Now as a teen he still doesn't have a huge appitite and has a limited diet but the things he does eat are healthy enough for a boy of his age. I do not make a fuss (usually) but there is always something in the fridge that he likes and gradually he is starting to try new things occasionally.

My younger son is almost 12 and hasn't eaten breakfast, despite my best efforts, since he was about 3. He just cant face food until about 11am. You cant make them eat, just offer a balanced diet (including treats) and hope that they find a good balance at some point.

I'd have a conversation about nothing being bad for you, but lots of different things should be eaten in moderation. If you eat nothing but veg, that is as unhealthy as eating nothing but sugar or fat.

Offer three choices for breakfast, so she has some control over what she eats but it's one of those choices only. Leave it if she refuses.

Reduce portion sizes at lunch and no rubbish. Ask her what she wants in her sandwich. I'd also cut up fruit into very small pieces. Mine eat much more that way - they are older now but they will still eat more of a fruit salad rather than a whole piece of fruit.

Give the cake/crisps/snakajaks after school if the fruit/yoghurt/small sandwich has been eaten or if it hasn't, then she needs to finish some of her lunch first then she can eat a cake/crisps. She can have a smaller portion of dinner if need be.
Likewise make her eat the healthy parts of lunch at school/after school or else no macdonalds later. Remember nothing is bad for you but she can't just eat the bits she likes. She needs to eat a bit of everything.

"nothing is bad for you"

Yes, nothing is bad for you, if eaten in moderation and as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

Thats a much better message to get across to kids than "healthy" and "unhealthy" foods.

My first biscuit. Thanks.

The main problem (and the supermarkets know this very well) is that the high wheat plus sugar\salt convenience foods and fizzy drinks lead to your body craving them. Making it harder for us to withstand them. It's a difficult problem because 'healthy' foods don't do this.

I agree with special subject. McD's is not 'food' or a treat.

How long has this been going on? Could be she's off colour?

You should let her have a macdonald's imo. She's only 5. There should be no food issues at this young age.

That's loads of food! Relax a bit and take her to McDonald's, don't make food a battle ground.

My dd is 10 and eats probably 3 bites of a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a tube yoghurt at lunch. That is all she will eat literally. If I take out the crisps and pack fruit she simply won't eat it and it's wasted so I don't bother now.

When she gets home she is really hungry so I give her a mini tea then.. maybe beans on toast, or eggy bread / French toast, or cheese omlette. She will still have dinner with us later, albeit maybe a small portion.

It's really not worth getting stressed over food or how much dc eat as long as over a week they're eating reasonably ok.

Dd and I are going to McDonald's later :) ... dh is looking after ds 10 months and dd and I are going out and to the cinema ! I can't wait !

Provide healthy food and trust that she'll eat what she needs.

Don't nag, bribe or negotiate with food.

Skip McDonald's if you think you should, once a week is a fairly frequent 'treat' in my opinion. But don't tell her it is because she is not eating her food.

I think if we provide the healthy opti

Provide healthy food and trust that she'll eat what she needs.

Don't nag, bribe or negotiate with food.

Skip McDonald's if you think you should, once a week is a fairly frequent 'treat' in my opinion. But don't tell her it is because she is not eating her food.

I think if we provide the healthy options and then trust that children know how to regulate their own diet we can't go too wrong.

If you want a quick dinner after dance class maybe just do beans or eggs on toast or something like that. Or a sandwich.

Also shewhowines tell DH that no food is unhealthy; he could hardly walk with arthriticky terrible pains in his legs after eating a pork dinner since giving up ALL pork products his pains have gone!