My Dinner Battle!

Dinner time can be hell in this house!

My 5 year old son fights us every night about what we are eating, how much he is going to eat, what he is going to get after and so on.

Here's the thing. I'm not the kind of mother that gives into his every want when it comes to food. I make sure he has a balanced diet! I want my boys to grow big and strong and be healthy! Sugary breakfasts, snacks and junk food is extremely limited or non-existing in this house. I will not buy the "Kid" branded cereal. He get's Berry Special K, Honey Nut Cheerios, Mini Wheats and the odd other somewhat healthy cereal. For a breakfast treat I got him Nutella! Lunch he gets a grenola bar and a fruit snack sometimes around a fruit cup, yoghurt, sliced apples sprinkled with cinnamon, cheese and so on.

Dinner we keep to a minimum as well! We indulge on the weekends. Friday you can guarantee it's pizza night in this house and Wendy's on Sunday! Saturday night varies when SMB is playing but if the band isn't playing we go to Brewster's for cheep wings! Week days our usual is Chicken but I'll also make Spaghetti, Pork, Fish and the odd beef dish. This has been the way for years so I don't understand why my 5 year old still fights us on what we eat at dinner. Everything I cook he has admitted to liking! And if I'm not in the mood to fight I'll turn to spaghetti! We make KD on the busy nights or stop at Subway!

A typical night usually consists of him trying to negotiate a "treat" after having only 5 bites of his dinner, whining he either is not hungry or doesn't like it or just plain refusing to eat! I don't want to starve my kid. I need him to gain weight so I can upgrade his car seat to a booster and put his brother in his old one! We have two so I could very well just move one from one car to the other however Steve's car is NOT family friendly and dealing with that would just be a big pain in the ass. But if this guy does not gain 5 lbs in the next few months for his safety dealing with a pain in the ass issue will just have to happen! Safety over convenience right?

The night before last we made Salmon! And that's another dish I can usually count on a minimal fight. Once he has a bite he tends to eat it all! Last night however the fight was starting! I was making his favourite BBQ Chicken thighs because he loves the skin! I added cheese and cucumber slices. He asked for salad and no rice! All this after telling me that he wanted KD and that he was sad that I wasn't making it. He then told me he was mad at me and not hungry. During dinner he ate the cheese, cucumbers and the apples that were in the salad and the bbq chicken skin. The chicken and lettuce still untouched. Steve and I finished and his brother was almost done too! I was very surprised at how much his brother had eaten! At 9 months old he almost out eaten a 5 year old! I gave him a small piece of chicken cut up, cheese, half a tomato, cucumber, yoghurt, sweet potato puffs and I think that's it! I was happy to see not that much had ended up under his bum! He's getting better at feeding himself! As we were finishing up and getting his brother ready for a bath we pointed out that he had eaten more then him and he was a baby! As I was bathing his brother, Steve was explaining that because he's a 5 year old boy he needs to eat more if he wants to be the big brother! This was a big help! He ate everything without a fight! Because he didn't want his brother to be bigger! LOL And then he asked for a banana and a yoghurt after... Maybe he's growing

Tonight is swimming so KD it is and my guy is thrilled. I'm thankful there's still salad in the fridge. The last few times I had KD I felt gross after. I'm a big fan of making my own mac and cheese but it's time consuming and I don't have enough cheese to make the sauce or I could do it before hand. There's also the option of using the slow cooker! Which I also love dearly! But again. We are lacking groceries and I'm to lazy to go out and get them! I guess in a way tonight is giving in. But whatever! He's going to swimming tonight in minus 30 weather... I'll give him this!

I sure hope I don't go through this with my baby. And I know I should be thankful for a light eater at the moment because when both of them are teenagers I'm be needing a 3rd job or 4 extra parties a month just to fund their hunger!

So in the end I get him to eat what I make but it usually ends in tears and yelling by both of us!
I really don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow night...