Sunday, April 26, 2009

A grain of rice

Well, it's been a few days since I've reported on J and the One Bite Rule. Overall, J's eating more of his food without as much fight. He's tried a few foods that he didn't want to eat. In general, I was feeling like we were having some small successes... until last night. Last night we decided to eat dinner early so we could do some fun things together as a family before bedtime. B thought he was giving J an easy night by making his "new" food be white rice. I had my doubts, but was hopeful. J ate a great dinner, but refused to eat even one tiny grain of rice. He touched it with his tongue, but would not put it in his mouth. He chose to go to bed over an hour and a half early, to skip all the fun we had planned, just so he wouldn't have to put a tiny grain of rice in his mouth. I was (am) so frustrated! Will keep trying, but don't see much success with new foods in my future. That's disheartening.

2 comments:

Yarnhog said...

Hang in there. The problem is, when you let your kids make their own choices, you have to live with the consequences--a circumstance that frequently comes back to bite me in the butt. Stick to your guns. Eventually he'll decide for himself that it's better to take a bite than go to bed early, and he'll be on the way to better eating.

365 Letters said...

My daughter is 8, and we still have a hard time getting her to try new things. But, I've read lots and lots of books and articles about how that's just how kids are and they usually don't get sick, even if they eat nothing but mac and cheese for an entire week. So, usually, we just let it go. We fix a meal, and if she doesn't want to eat it, that's usually punishment enough. Of course, we have some rules, like no dessert or no snacks between meals if she doesn't eat all/some of her food (and we're not overloading her plate or expecting her to eat really weird things). She's in great health, so I don't worry about it for the most part. Good luck with your challenge!