This weekend and week he has had an ear infection. It made him cranky. That would cause me to be cranky as well, but I know he's starting to feel better so I'm not being as nice about some things. He is getting really picky about food. If it isn't a carbohydrate, cheese, or blueberries he pushes his plate away.
Now, I'm all for not forcing a child to eat, but I also refuse to be limited in where we go out to eat or what I cook just because my child won't try things. So, I'm following the Parenting with Love and Logic plan. I'm not going to fight it and if he doesn't want to eat something new then he can go hungry. I'm fine with that. It's the constant whining when he is hungry that is really killing me. How many times can you put a child in time out without going insane I ask you?
Today I ate a turkey sandwich. He had everything I had. He just sat at the table with his sweet little chin in his hands looking at me because I said that he could whine and go to time out or he could choose not to whine and eat his lunch. Today I ate Doritos after I was done with my sandwich and make a big production on how tasty they were. He decided he was all done and went to play.
He came back 30 minutes later and asked for some cheese. He got a choice of turkey or peas. He caved and ate most of his peas. He was such a happy little boy when he finally got cheese and blueberries for eating his peas.
Tomorrow we'll work on trying turkey if I haven't gone and put myself in a nice quiet time out place of my choosing.
7 comments:
hmmmm I totally remember that. It addled my brain to the point that I don't remember what we did about it. We still deal with it to some extent. It's more nagging now than whining. We have started saving the food from lunch and serving it at dinner. Good luck.
I feel ya. Sounds like you're doing the right thing withholding the cheese and all. Way to be strong.
But...does he sit there after he's eaten (an hour long process) and willfully make himself puke? If you've not experienced that fun, you've never lived.
If you decided you need another book to read I have "Child of Mine, Feeding w/Love & Good Sense" It's by Elly Satter, a dietitian...I'm biased. It's the book that I heard recommended over and over when I was in school. She is big on teaching kids to eat a variety of foods and develop a health relationship with food.
If you have any good books on teaching your kid to go to sleep...I'll be getting to the end of my patience around 9pm tonight :-)
Thanks for the recommendation Jen. Getting toddlers to sleep I'm not sure. We have opposite probelms I think:) We used "Healthy, Sleep Habits, Happy Child" when James was 5 months old. I'm biased and have to have a book written by a pediatrician to actually follow it sleep wise so I'm sure to read the dietitian book you recommended. I'd have to re-read it to see if there are any toddler tips. I'll keep you posted.
As the parent who didn't have post-pregnancy mind-melt, I'd like to state for the record that "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" in fact was no help at all, and the way we got the boy to fall asleep on his own was to send mommy to the movies for two nights in a row while Big Bad Dad sat in the living room and listened to the boy cry himself to sleep. Two nights. Problem solved.
For the record I said I had to re-read it didn't I?
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