Parents who make their kids eat food they don't like are vile, amirite?

You have to force them to try things.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

To try things is fine, but the force them to finish it after they've tried and don't like it is just mean. I loved my grandad and I miss him, but I remember every awful thing he forced me to eat during my childhood and it's the only blemish on his record. There were several times I threw up after being made to eat things. Salmon, puked. Pearl onions in cream sauce, puked. Split pea soup, went full exorcist green vomit in the middle of the night. Forcing me to eat those foods guaranteed that I would never grow to like them like I have with other things I used to not like.

by SuccessMother 1 week ago

One side of my family was like this and two of my cousins were picky eaters (not ARFID, they just didn't like tomato stew and ratatouille and red river cereal). They would vomit at the table several nights a week, and eventually they would start to throw up whenever they got upset or in trouble. Even the compliant cousins weren't spared. I remember my little cousin who was a super easy kid, not wanting to finish the last bite of some kind of food court beef jerky. My grandfather made her put it in her mouth and walk around the mall with it, until my grandma let her secretly spit it out in the parking lot.

by OwnAssignment2887 1 week ago

Red River cereal has a scary name. That's messed up though. Sorry for your cousins.

by SuccessMother 1 week ago

Dude just eat your food.

by geovany69 1 week ago

Ah yes I will let my 4 year old decide their diet and will only consist of sweets. That won't have any problematic effects for their future at all nope.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

chicken nuggets and candy for everyone !! yay !!

by Fleta16 1 week ago

You wouldn't like force feed them but trying to convince them and not giving them an alternative every time so they can just avoid vegetables is still important. Of course, actually being good at cooking can help. Personally I like every food so I think my parents did a good job there

by Dpfeffer 1 week ago

Agree that the "can't go to bed/can't leave the table until food is finished" rule is stupid. If somebody isn't hungry, they aren't hungry. That being said, kids having exactly the same thing as everybody else is having for dinner is reasonable. You don't want to eat, you don't eat it. Eventually you'll have to eat, and not snacks/sugar, but whatever leftovers are there. Not every family is so rich they can afford to throw out food.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Agree that the "can't go to bed/can't leave the table until food is finished" rule is stupid. If somebody isn't hungry, they aren't hungry. When my kid pulls the "I am not hungry" card and I know very well it's because she doesn't like the food in her plate, I usually just tell her "If you are not hungry, we'll skip desert too then!" and negotiate 1-2 bites in exchange for desert. Everybody wins. Now she never fuss when she doesn't like the food.

by Euphoric-Chart 1 week ago

To be fair, when I was a kid, my parents would regularly feed me portions that were too big for me and legit made me cry. I didn't have any space left for dessert, or for anything, actually, by the end of the "obligatory" meal I just wanted to be done with the whole ordeal and leave. And dessert was a pretty rare occasion anyway, definitely not served every day.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Plus kids will overeat dinner to get dessert. I definitely did, because dessert was painted as the goal of and reward for slogging your way through dinner.

by OwnAssignment2887 1 week ago

I think the rule is fine because it gets kids used to the idea that sometimes in life, you have to do stuff that you don't want to do or that isn't pleasing to you.

by Comfortable_Fun 1 week ago

It does have the consequences of overeating in the future because you are conditioned to clean your plate or else, and not listen to the body cues. Especially dangerous in the US because most restaurants serve portions that are deliberately too large to comfortably finish in one sitting, and while normally one would take the leftovers and go, this conditioning might push them to try to finish the meal.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Yeah but cramming too much food down your gullet isn't something anyone should do, want to do or have to do. We had that rule as kids and guess what, we all have problems with portion control because we were conditioned to think that "full" means your stomach is crammed and uncomfortable and you feel almost sick.

by OwnAssignment2887 1 week ago

No, eating should never be unpleasant. If you make the idea of eating food an ordeal for your child, then your child will associate food with negative feelings. This is literally how people end up with eating disorders.

by Udooley 1 week ago

I have a 2 year old and it's a struggle. I just keep giving her the foods but she doesn't have to eat them. Always 1 thing she will eat on the plate + the things I want her to eat that she might not. No more snacks after dinner though

by Anonymous 1 week ago

"Just coddle your child and let them have whatever they want ever! What could possible go wrong!"

by Business_Recipe1268 1 week ago

Don't you love it when people with no experience in a matter start telling people that do how they should do it?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I mean, we've all been children and can look back at those experiences as adults. Besides, there's huge swaths between forcing kids to choke down food they don't like until they vomit, and letting them eat junk food at every meal.

by OwnAssignment2887 1 week ago

My dad did this with one of my sisters and mashed potatoes. She hated them due to consistency issues. Doesn't mind boiled cubed potatoes but not mashed. Despite this, at a holiday dinner one time someone made her plate for her and put mashed potatoes on it. My dad told her she couldn't leave the table until her plate was cleared. Everything was gone except the mashed. He wouldn't take no for an answer. My sister sat at that table for nearly 3 hours because she wouldn't give in. She tried one bite and got sick and my mom flipped out. Never happened again. Funniest part about this whole thing is that my grandpop did the same thing to my dad with peas. He hates peas to this day and won't touch any meal with peas. I totally agree with OP's position.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Next time, you can suggest that you do the cooking. Now everyone is happy.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I'm suprised to find so many people disagree with it. Not forcing bland veggies down your kid's throat is not equal to eating nuggies and ice cream for every occasion, you just have to experiment, gradually introduce and let go, if they really don't like it.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Huh. Surprised to see that this is, in fact, an unpopular opinion. I've seen the results of kids being forced to eat food they didn't like and having to finish their plates and it is horrible and upsetting. I don't think kids should get a different meal or not have to taste things, but parents should just use common sense, cook things kids won't hate, cook well, don't force anything past a couple of tastes, make sure a couple of the items are things the kid will eat, and don't make the dinner table a war zone.

by OwnAssignment2887 1 week ago

So no kid is ever going to eat vegetables in your world? Sounds dumb.

by Business_Recipe1268 1 week ago

Did someone just have to eat liver and onions?

by Ok_Chemistry 1 week ago

I agree coming from a family of picky eaters, I am not forcing my kid to eat something I wouldn't.

by Johnskareem 1 week ago

We never forced our kids to eat big plates of things they didn't like but we did make them try things. I also wasn't about to make a bunch of different meals so if they didn't want to eat what I made that was fine but they were waiting til the next meal .

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I agree that forcing kids to eat/finish is cruel and counterproductive. My dad has ARFID and has terrible memories of what his parents did to him. One story that I heard was that they made him sit at the table until he ate it all so he sat there for 3 days until the food rotted and stank up the house so they were forced to throw it away. He currently eats maybe 5 things so it didn't even "work". But I don't think parents should have to be short-order cooks either. If you don't like what's for dinner, you know where the peanut butter is.

by Jshanahan 1 week ago

If you think that's torture I'm genuinely jealous of your childhood, you were way luckier than me

by Fadeljohnpaul 1 week ago

Hun just eat your fricken carrots.

by Anonymous 1 week ago