Okay, that's not how it sounds.
We have one meal for our whole family at each mealtime. In "addition", each meal is served with whole-grain, homemade bread. At breakfast, that's bread with butter. Bread is unlimited. The 3.5 yo gets milk at breakfast and lunch. They get a fruit snack once a day and a protein snack once a day, or a combo. They may have ketchup or yoghurt on their meal if they want, if they think it will make it better, but in moderation.
Now, the baby is still nursing more or less on demand so if she doesn't eat, I suffer at night.
But if the 3.5 doesn't eat, too bad. Sometimes, this results in her going to the park or to bed on an empty or near-empty stomach.
Is that like, super harsh? I mean, I cook a very varied diet, we have grains at each meal, they like them, and I cook their favorite foods (chickpeas, broccoli, whole-wheat spaghetti, rice, beans, baked potato "fries" with fried salmon) often enough so this only happens once or twice a week. We definitely have treats a couple times a week.
However, when I see threads on "my kid will only eat x" on facebook or here, and these are NOT kids with special needs otherwise or, to my knowledge, food (there's always the undiagnosed child, but let's be honest, how many children have a disability that makes them entirely normal except that they have to eat Spaghetti-Os at every meal? but otherwise have zero issues?)--I think, "Well, just don't give it to them every day."
Now, I KNOW that the child may go somewhat hungry for up to three days. My feeling is, that if this child is otherwise typical, they WILL eat other foods when they are really hungry.
Is that like, really harsh? I'm not going to suggest it because I don't want to be un-friended, LOL. I mean whatever, if you want to give your kid Spaghetti-Os 21 times per week, I have no problem with that. I'm sure they'll be fine. But I'm asking if *my* parenting is that harsh.
(Once again, I'm not talking about kids that reach a level of malnourishment over weeks or months due to a quantifiable special need. I completely understand that "just" serving them regular food and letting them deal will not change the child in that case.)
We have one meal for our whole family at each mealtime. In "addition", each meal is served with whole-grain, homemade bread. At breakfast, that's bread with butter. Bread is unlimited. The 3.5 yo gets milk at breakfast and lunch. They get a fruit snack once a day and a protein snack once a day, or a combo. They may have ketchup or yoghurt on their meal if they want, if they think it will make it better, but in moderation.
Now, the baby is still nursing more or less on demand so if she doesn't eat, I suffer at night.
But if the 3.5 doesn't eat, too bad. Sometimes, this results in her going to the park or to bed on an empty or near-empty stomach.
Is that like, super harsh? I mean, I cook a very varied diet, we have grains at each meal, they like them, and I cook their favorite foods (chickpeas, broccoli, whole-wheat spaghetti, rice, beans, baked potato "fries" with fried salmon) often enough so this only happens once or twice a week. We definitely have treats a couple times a week.
However, when I see threads on "my kid will only eat x" on facebook or here, and these are NOT kids with special needs otherwise or, to my knowledge, food (there's always the undiagnosed child, but let's be honest, how many children have a disability that makes them entirely normal except that they have to eat Spaghetti-Os at every meal? but otherwise have zero issues?)--I think, "Well, just don't give it to them every day."
Now, I KNOW that the child may go somewhat hungry for up to three days. My feeling is, that if this child is otherwise typical, they WILL eat other foods when they are really hungry.
Is that like, really harsh? I'm not going to suggest it because I don't want to be un-friended, LOL. I mean whatever, if you want to give your kid Spaghetti-Os 21 times per week, I have no problem with that. I'm sure they'll be fine. But I'm asking if *my* parenting is that harsh.
(Once again, I'm not talking about kids that reach a level of malnourishment over weeks or months due to a quantifiable special need. I completely understand that "just" serving them regular food and letting them deal will not change the child in that case.)