RIGHT - DINNER IS OVER!

[Sugarmagnolia]

DH is out tonight so I sat down to a nice dinner of salmon, salmon patties, string beans in honey and mashed potato with DD and DS.

After about 25 minutes I had finished. DD had eaten most of her dinner and was working on a second salmon patty but messing around a bit. DS had eaten about 4 bites of string beans and nothing else. He keeps picking up bites of salmon patty and putting them back down again.

I get up to put my plate in the kitchen and DD manages to spill her water all over herself, the table and the floor and DS is still sitting there moaning and fussing over every bite.

So I say RIGHT, DINNER IS OVER!!! I clear both plates away and leave them both screaming that they are still hungry.

Did I do the right thing?

whether its right or not, i would have done the same.

I would have done the same.

you wouldn't have given in and offered DS something else like toast or yoghurt? I didn't. When he kept crying he was still hungry I told him then maybe tomorrow night he would eat his dinner without such a fuss. I'm feeling very mean now.

Did you give them any sort of warning?

but if you do give in then he will know in future that if he doesnt eat his dinner then mummy will just give him something else after.

If he had sat there, tried everything and told you he didnt like it then, (maybe )i would have offered an alternative.

no, you didn't.
spilling water was an accident I presume.
punishing your dd for ds "fussing" was unfair
sending two children to bed hungry is not great tbh.you are teaching ds that if he wants to wind you up, this is a really great way.
and what were you teaching dd?

I do the same on ocassion...ds is a nightmare eater...but he is getting better. If I know for sure he does like it, and he is just not eating it then yes it gets taken away and nothing else is given.

I have to say though...if it is something they are not keen on..I make them do their best and don't force the issue, and maybe offer toast...or a yoghurt maybe.

I spent way too long sat at the table as a kid crying and moaning that I didn't like it...only to be left sat there unable to leave the table until it was finished. I am very resentful of being made to eat food I just didn't like.

Was it a meal they would normally eat?

I don't ever force them to eat things I know they don't like or make them sit at the table until they're finished. If they tell me they've had enough that's fine. And if they eat a little bit of everything and want something else like toast or yoghurt I usually let them have it.

In this case, I knew DS didn't like plain salmon so I made the salmon patties specially for him. But it doesn't matter what I give him, unless it's chicken nuggets he fusses and procrastnates (I need another drink, I need the toilet...) and has usually managed about 3 bites by the time DD is done. What am I supposed to do with him?

I do feel a little bad about DD as it probably was an accident (well the kind of accident that happens when you're bored and figety and not sitting still). But she'd had plenty to eat already and I'm sure she wasn't actually still starving.

hmmm I get the going to the loo lots and wanting to wash hands (despite already doing it)..or getting a tissue...We have a ritual now before we all sit down to go to the loo...wash hands and they have a pice of kitchen roll each then there excuse.

My DS sounds a lot like yours. He's 3 1/2 and always been fussy. Sometimes he seems to be getting better -more willing to try new things or at least sitting nicely and eating the things he does like without a fuss but it never lasts. I try to just give him his dinner and leave him to eat without making lots of comments but inevitably after 15 minutes or so I either start trying to persuade him to eat or just feed him myself.

my ds is 3 1/2 too...(he'll be 4 in September) He does tend to go through phases TBH...he's not doing too bad at the mo...I do bribe him with a nice pudding or something sometimes too.

I know how infuriating it gets though so don;t feel too bad (smile)