Dd has a big appetite and when she's at home, eats large portions and snacks alot. She sometimes needs geeing up a bit to finish her food but I do this because I know if I don't, she'll only ask for something to eat 5 minutes after she has finished a meal.
We started her off on hot dinners but she had recently outgrown her egg allergy and found it very hard to suddenly start eating food she had never had before. She also found the smell of the omelettes (they seem to have this often as a veggie option) or cheesy things (like macaroni, cheesy pasties) really offputting (she had a milk allergy and although this is outgrown, she still won't go near cheese).
So we swapped to packed lunch but she seems to never eat her sandwiches. I've tried other bits like pasta salad but she barely touches them. She will nibble a bit at everything and wolfs down any fruit I put in but doesn't touch the protein or the starchy stuff. As a result, the last few weeks, she's actually been sent home twice in the afternoon - both times because she has said her tummy is sore but once home scoffing a massive bowl of food she is much better!
I asked her why she doesn't eat and she said none of her friends eat very much (it is true that most of her friends eat like birds) and I have tried to explain that in our family, we all have appetites the size of houses and need to eat more than most but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
I'm now wondering whether to swap back to hot dinners and try again (as there are lots of boys who have hot dinners who love their food!). What would you do? (she's 5 btw)