do you give your children a choice of what they want for tea or do you just give them what everyone else is having and they eat it?

[jojostar]

I have always given my children 6,9 a choice of what they want for tea however this is beginning to be a pain in the arse as they want something different and we have 'no i don't want that, this, the other' I'm thinking that at that age I was just given my tea and I just ate it. I'm considering just doing that and have tried but they look at me like an alien has landed. Do I do the tough mum bit? Thats it or nothing...What do you do?

I don't really give my 2 a choice, however I do try and serve them something that they will like.. even though they change their minds about this too...so that does not help. Usually all I ask is that they try it, if they don't like it they don't have to have it but they won't get anything else. For my ds I am finding that he doesn't really like sauce base meals ( e.g spaghetti Bolognese)or one pot meals (Cottage Pie), he prefers meat and 2 veg kinda thing where he can eat what he likes and leaves what he doesn't.

I was just saying to TBD, who is putting in kiev for me and Tink and pie for himself. As long as it's not something that has to be cut up amongst people or has terribly different cooking instructions, I don't see the need for everyone to have the same main part. I might change my mind in a few years when I have two kids though

I couldn't imagine giving choices. But we are more the other way. I menu plan and say "what do you fancy next week" and get met with blank expressions. Sometimes it can be a bit wearing choosing it all every week.

And I have come to the conclusion that DD deliberately relishes all the things DS doesn't like - well that would be mushrooms, tomatoes (although cooked ones OK) and courgettes so not a vast array. DD has decided she doesn't like onions but I cook with onions virtually every day. She always picks out one or two but also eats lots.... She also claimed she didn't like marrow when I made a marrow and lentil bake but happily tucked into what she described as "potato".

we learned to cook fairly young.

by the time we were 10, if we didn't like what was being offered for tea, then we were given the choice to cook something of our own chosing - and clean up every bit of it.

If they want choice go and live in a hotel - otherwise this cook makes the meal and if you dont like go hungry

I'm reading this and thinking you're all so bloody organised! 5 days out of 7 I look in the fridge then the cupboard and russle something up with what I've got .

Fortunately the kids like pasta .

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