to think it's not child abuse to make the DC's....

[BigMomma3]

eat spanish style chickpea stew with wilted spinach . DD has made herself choke to get out of eating it and DS1 has been in tears at the table. I cannot believe the fuss they made! DS2 ate it all after a slap bit of gentle encouragement!!

DD screamed 'why can't we eat normal food like normal families?' When asked to elaborate she said we should eat mashed potatoes, chips, fishfingers and sausages etc (which we do eat as well as my veggie concoctions ).

I have also refused to buy their usual Cocopops and Cheerios and am making organic porridge with dessicated coconut and golden syrup for their breakfast and we were late for school this morning due to the amount of time it took for DS1 to take one spoonful . I am sick of them always wanting to eat crap (although even if I give them pizza or chips they usually don't eat much because they are constantly raiding the fridge). AIBU to take a stand or am I wasting my time??? They are aged between 7 & 12 BTW

Give up.

Give them healthy kids food like fish fingers, mash and peas.

I was raised in a wholefood household and am still traumatised by having plates of 'brown' put in front of me and my mother crying with despair becuase we didn't like it.

Don't waste your energy. Make them food they like, and move on.

Their tastes will develop over time (I love most vegetables these days) and then you can all eat the stuff that you enjoy.

lol at the lentil fed kids coming round begging for crisps.

That was my life!! I had no shame. Any excuse to eat in a 'nice' house. Bacon rolls were the ultimate prize if I remember.

it sounds disgusting

but then my lot are having chilli chinese beef tonight

I have 5 girls!! And the youngest 2 eat anything, but the 7yr old is a complete nightmare, all she will eat is chips, chicken nuggets, dough balls, cucumber and dry coco pops!! the 11yr old is slightly fussy and the 16yr old well in a world of her own!!

Our 7yr old is a NIGHTMARE we have tried everything to get her to eat new things and this has been going on for 2yrs now.....And she still isnt bored of the screaming fits! lol so now after spending way to much time worrying about her eating habbits i ignore her as it isnt fair on the others but there was a point i wanted to run away from home lol

Ive come to the conclusion that she will eventually get bored of nuggets and only wearing 4-5yr clothes, and get too embarrassed when out with friends she will cave in at some point!! But i have to say if i served up chick peas to her she'd probably leave home!!

Y'know, when I first read the OP I thought 'bleugh. Don't think I'd eat it so why would a child?' But then I mused further and thought that I should really try it before making any such judgement, so if anyone has a decent recipe, hand it over.

Incidentally my DH eats porridge with salt AND PEPPER!!! Now that is truly gross. (I know, I tried it)

I would love to love porridge and have kept making myself try it but can only cope with it drowned in sugar and cream. Even so, the last time I ate it , before a karate grading, I had to ask to leave the dojo so I could throw up. Kinda gone off it even more since then.......

Well the millet well down well tonight. They love coucous and quinoa already but they said millet was better - result! They had that with roast chicken, roasted butternut squash (my absolute fav) and steamed broccoli. Almost clean plates all round . Am now baking chocolate & orange buns that they will have with strawberry & papaya smoothies (they have no complaints at that). Makes me feel more virtous after the cocopops they had for breakfast to assuage my guilt about last night's dinner!

Much better night tonight!!

virtuous or course!

BigMomma - are you going to put the condensed milk into the porridge ? Blimey, it will be very very sweet - will give them toothache! Just use milk it will be lovely.

Tbh, I make a spicy chicken and chickpea stew which has spinach in. DS2 likes it and eats it but DS1 (12) did like it but is going off it but I think it is the spinach he is not wild about.

Fantastic news about the millet, especially as the quinoa is already a household fave. You must be so proud.

Have I got the only garbage can kid on Mumsnet? Seriously he will eat anything. He doesn't even ask most nights. Just sits and shovels it in. DH the same, though he notices.

He would scoff the chickpeas & spinach as readily as a pizza. I sometimes wonder whether he has any sense of taste at all. He says he does.

I am of the "eat it or go hungry" school of parenting but it very rarely comes up so I don't think it is that.

Oh and the only real way to eat porridge is with molasses sugar and double cream, and maybe a shot of scotch in the winter.

good god morloth that sounds feckin divine (i don't even like porridge that much).

I did have porridge for my tea! mmmmmm!

My child is a garbage can too, the only thing so far he has never ever liked is melon, although he does keep trying it just in case he likes it!

Do you really put scotch in porridge?!?!?

Sorry, haven't gone through the whole thread... but how can food that you eat as an adult be daunting to a child? I really don't get the 'you have to dress food up with smiley faces in order that children will eat it' nonsense.

that chickpea stuff sounds a little icky
I love vegegetable and vegetarian food but really I think you are swinging form extremem to extreme

what exactly is wrong with baked salmon steaks, new pots and steamed brocolli, carrots and corn on the cob

delicious, nutritious healthy food that the kids wont think your mad for putting in front of them

'''I've heard if you give it to them 17 times they will decide they like it. Never tested that theory though[weak emoticon]. Stick to your guns and let me know if it's true.''

Er, problem is, Lynette, they have to taste it 17 times...Mine could be offered it a million times and would not try it

The chickpea stuiff sounds lovely. But I am nearly 40. I would Not Never eat a chickpea under the age of 15 tbh...

Mind you, mine will now eat curly kale. Not cabbage or spinach though Okward liddle gits.

Bellaboo, take your 7yr old to a child psychologist and your gp. She sounds as if she's malnourished and underweight. This is serious as she approaches puberty in particular. It's obviously a cause of great stress in your house and 2 years is far too long.

Mine happily eat everything, or so I tell people because they eat all veg and fish and meat but not mixed up meals, like stir fry, pasta with any sauce etc....

I think it helps if you don't let your children know there's things they might not enjoy. I remember with despair my sister bringing her then 3yo for supper and saying 'oh, just give him a bit of gravy, he won't eat anything else'. FFS. Well of course he won't if you've told him so...

I found the best way to introduce DS to new things was to eat them in front of him. He was having marmite on toast age 1 and I had hummus - he wanted to try mine, and wouldn't give it back...

CommonNortherner "Do you really put scotch in porridge?!?!?

mmm might try that. Sounds almost as tempting as condensed milk.

Morloth: I love you!

Have you bottom line and stick to it, but don't get into a battle about maiking every meal a brown rice-and-tofu affair.

My bottom line is that they have to have what I consider to be a healthy breakfast - so boiled eggs and toast or porridge or yoghurt, muesli & fruit. We don't buy sugary cereals, end of.

They also have to try everything on their plate (if they dont like it, they dont have to finish it) and they have to eat at least two portions of veg (I serve a choice of three with most meals).

That's it, really.

The odd smiley face won't hurt them.

Oh, and if you dont buy loads of junk, they can't eat it

scooz typos

at whiskey porridge

REALLY? for BREAKFAST? it is ALLOWED?

Mine live on home-made pizza: I use a scone base and bung in 1 oz ground almonds and an egg into the base mix - they don't notice the difference.