DD is 4 and autistic. She's always been a fruit and vegetable lover so it was never an issue getting her 5 a day, but up until recently she would barely eat anything at mealtimes other than chicken nuggets, plain pasta or pizza. She had extreme texture issues so any attempt at adding new foods in would cause her to spiral.
It upset me how bland her diet was but due to my own health issues and just generally being exhausted, I admit I gave in to it because atleast she was eating. However about 2 months ago I'd had enough, so we decided to try a new technique. We noticed that she was a lot more open to new things and situations in general if she was a part of the decision process and it didn't feel forced.
So we wrote down a list of about a months worth of different meals (5 days a week) and then we let her pick the meals for the week and the days that we ate them. Those meals were then not options to choose until we had done the whole list. We were sure it would be a battle but surprisingly she took to it really well. She has been trying new foods (I am careful to make the textures as tolerable for her as possible) and actually eating a varied diet for the first time ever. Theres only been a few blips but overall its been really successful.
However when I've spoken to family and friends about this, the overall opinion seems to be "You're giving her way too much power" or "You can't let her be in control of you". I don't think we are, we choose all the meals on the list so we're having what we want to eat at some point. She just chooses the order and what day she wants it. But maybe I'm wrong?
Am I giving her too much power?