Just Eat Your Dinner.....

Last night I made baked chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and broccoli. As Nick put it, this was basically a meal catered to Malachi. He likes every.single.one.of.those.items. Did he want to eat them? No. We are cracking down on him eating his dinner because lately whatever is made, he doesn't want to eat. I will never make him eat something he doesn't like. I'm not going to eat something I don't like so why would I make him? But...he likes all of those foods, so that's what he was going to eat.

Well, he didn't eat them. He took a bite of green beans and a couple of bites of mashed potatoes and he was whining he didn't want it. So I said fine but this is your supper for the night. I told him he wasn't getting a pop tart, a waffle, oatmeal (his favorites) or anything else. He could eat his dinner and then he could have something else. (Nick was also telling him this. It's easier when both parents are on the same page.)

So, in about an hour he came to me with a bag of chips. Should I just let him eat them? It's late and he hasn't eaten yet. I don't want him to go to bed hungry. Ugh. I wanted so bad to let him eat them but I didn't. I told him no that his dinner was on the table if he wanted to eat something. Well, he chose not too. It was time for bed and he still hadn't eaten.

As I laid there in my bed, I just kept thinking about how hungry he probably was and how I was hoping that his little tummy wasn't hurting. But I knew I couldn't let him choose to do what he wanted. It wasn't a choice. There was no you can either eat this or chips. No. It was this is what's for dinner (you like it all) so this is what you can eat. It was hard but I made it. lol I'm thinking he probably didn't starve.

What do you think? Would you have chosen to let him go ahead and eat something before bed since he hadn't eaten? Or, would you have stuck to your guns and let him choose to eat his dinner or not?

Parenting is a hard thing. To do or not to do? We are responsible for these little people and to know the best decisions is just hard sometimes.