Another Thursday night and I’m doing the dishes. And I think to myself, it is Thursday. Yay!
Most people are familiar with the TGIF—Thank God, It’s Friday—but Thank God, It’s Thursday?
That is my motto! It is the day that I aim to get to, in terms of making dinner.
I do not usually make dinner on Friday and Saturday. I go out to eat or order in. Heck, I would just eat a PBJ sandwich or a can of spaghettios, if it were just me.
But it is not just me. I am…(ahem)…a “responsible” adult and a mother to a ten-year old picky eater.
Dinner is a chore, a torture akin to the pulling out my fingernails, or picking at a hang nail (those things hurt like the devil!)
I try to be gung-ho about it. I try to make a well-rounded dinner, well, mostly!
The usual response is “Ugh! I don’t want to eat that! It does not even matter what it is, the response seems to be the same.
“I cannot wait till she is a teenager and ornery and sulky,” said no mother ever. That should be a fun five years. Mine started sounding like a teenager when she was 8 years old, I think.
I have told her many times that when I was a kid, if you did not eat what was given to you, you sat at the dinner table until you did. There were six people in the family, so the budget had to stretch a lot.
The worst thing I had to eat as a kid was liver. I guess it was a good bargain, and of course, it is full of nutrients, but it always tasted like eating a shoe.
My mother, father and sister actually enjoyed eating it. Whenever I said anything about not liking it, my mother would say how good it will taste this time, in a gravy or mixed in with onions.
But unfortunately, shoe leather, every…single…time.
I think there were nights when I sat at that table till nine o’clock trying to swallow that stuff.
Fast forward to today and my daughter, who balks when I make…wait for it, chicken.
How dare I? What a horrible mother to try and feed my child chicken with mashed potatoes and corn. What am I thinking?
And it is usually fried with breadcrumbs as well. She calls it “healthy” and will ask me why we are eating healthy foods. I tell her it is to balance out the junk.
Yes, I know that fried chicken, although it is usually skinless white meat in small pieces, is not healthy but I was trying to get her to eat.
Just wait, dear, when you are trying to get your own children to eat and you get the look that you are giving me right now, I think to myself.
But until that time when I get retribution, the struggle continues.
She sometimes has phases of liking something, that is, until I buy it in the store and then it changes, automatically,that she does not like it anymore.
That usually comes after being at someone else’s house and seeing that they have it. Other times it comes from seeing something in another student’s lunch bag.
That is how I end up eating: yogurt covered raisins, chocolate covered peanut butter granola bars, popsicles, and fruit loops, among other things. These are not even healthy options. I think most kids would be loving some of the things that my child rejects.
So the struggle continues, and for me, it is real.
But when Thursday comes around, in my head, I know I am good for two days off, at least. Yes!
And do not even get me started on the problems with her eating breakfast and lunch!
I can’t even!
How about you? Do you have a wonderful dining experience with your family? Well-balanced meals? Napkins placed gracefully on their laps? Or are you like a lot of families, struggling to feed the children, in between activities, and dealing with different tastes?
Feel free to comment below and share your joy or misery.
It’s just me and I alternate between cooking somethung and eating it for 4 days or grabbing fast/prepared food. So today it was a slice of pizza and a Coke for lunch, homemade chicken soup for dinner 😁
Yes, that would be mine too. Fast, boring and no messy cleanup.
If she will not eat that fried chicken with mashed potatoes and corn, I am happy to come over and eat it myself. Every last bite. That’s probably my favorite meal of all time!!! That meal was a treat to me as a kid and even now I cherish it.
My mother also would make me sit at the table until I finished my food and liver was also something she made twice. To this day I find it horrifying.
But chicken with mashed potatoes and corn.. I can already see myself spooning the corn on top of the mashed potatoes..As a matter of fact, now you’ve made me crave this and I will try to accomplish the same thing tonight with Sofia.. probably with equal success. Hahah.
-Jim
That was back in the day where you ate what you were given. I keep telling my daughter that we only went out to restaurants a few times a year for celebrations like birthdays. I keep waiting for the picky eater to get easier. I try not to make a deal about it because in the end, is it a big deal? I’m not sure yet. And soon enough, she’ll be making her own food and figuring it out. Pick your battles, you know? Oh, and I totally mix my corn in with my mashed potatoes and eat it together. So good. I will never get over the eating liver stuff and I still see it on menus at times and think, really, is this a popular item here? Hope you were able to get Sofia to eat her dinner. At least she loved her fruit and ate a lot of that. Thanks for the comment and support.
Children can be so fussy when they want something just because someone else had it too. Just tell her that if she doesn’t have what you’re cooking she won’t have anything else to eat 🙃 I’m sure she will eat it when she’s hungry… if not, well that means she’s not hungry!
I don’t know if it’s worth it or not. That’s how I grew up and I went the opposite way as an adult, eating the wrong things as soon as I could afford them. So, I continue the bargaining and manipulating to get through our dinners. At least tonight is Thursday again, so after tonight I have two days off.
When our kids were little, my husband and I would make them try anything on their plate at least once. If they truly truly didn’t like it that I wouldn’t make them eat it again. Things like brussels sprouts or asparagus LOL. What kid does like those when our kids were little, my husband and I would make them try anything on their plate at least once. If they truly truly didn’t like it that I wouldn’t make them eat it again. Things like brussels sprouts or asparagus LOL. What kid does like those ha ha.
Brussel sprouts I never understood. They’re like little cabbaages. It’s a struggle but now that my daughter is older, I’m trying to get her to just get something herself. I have got her working on cooking some things, like quesadillas and grilled cheeses, which were a big fad of hers for a little while. It’s hard when they are crying though, I don’t want to traumatize her either.
Hey very interesting blog!
Thank you.
Thank you. This post is just my frustration of having to cook for a picky eater and why Thursday is such a good night, knowing I have a few days off. It was intended to be entertaining. Hope it was. Cheers to you, too!
I think if you google it, you will get a lot of choices. Or look under plug ins too. Good luck!