My ds has just turned 5 and started in Reception in September. He is a very deep thinking little boy, quite sensitive for his age and advanced in the sense that he is reading The Magic Faraway Tree and The Magician's Nephew himself.
I have a real problem at the minute because he believes everything they tell him at school. And a eco character seems to have come in and told them that they must not waste food. I am all for saving the planet but my ds now thinks he has to eat absolutely everything. The first incident was when he tried a piece of celery from his dad's chilli and obviously didn't like it but wouldn't let us throw it away and just kept licking and taking tiny nibbles from it. The next incident was with an apple which he had been eating on the way home from family late on Sunday. When we got in he was going straight to bed so I asked him to put the core in the bin and he refused saying he wanted it and he wanted to eat it. And when I insisted he completely lost it, shouting at me and saying how dare I take his apple core, even calling me an idiot. This is completely out of character - he doesn't throw tantrums. We put it down to him being tired but again yesterday he did it over some orange peel and now tonight he refused to go to bed until he had eaten a bit of parsnip and some broccoli left at the end of his dinner - he was retching and gagging but still insisted he wanted it. We normally say he has to taste everything and eat a reasonable amount so it really doesn't come from us saying he has to eat up.
I am really worried there is something wrong with him that he is taking it to this extreme - I have tried explaining that he is not wasting food by leaving those little bits and that nothing bad will happen if he doesn't eat them but nothing I say will override what they have told him at school. What should I do? Has anyone else had a similar problem?