Sam is honing his contrarian skills and they’ve most recently been focused on food. In the past he’d try anything we put in front of him. If he didn’t like it he’d spit it out and as ugly as it is, I’m fine with that because he actually tasted the food and made an informed albeit unsightly decision. We’ve now entered a whole new stage.
While he watched the other day I cut a plum, removed the pit, and sliced it into Sam-sized pieces for his lunch. The whole thing came back from school and he told me he didn’t taste it. I ate the plum in the evening, right in front of him, and offered him some. No dice, wouldn’t taste it.
He was unmoved by my suggestion to think about the book “How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food” by Jayne Yolen because after the dinosaurs demonstrate bad table manners early in the book, they’re shown using proper table manners including tasting the food, a bit later. He was taken with the book when we had it from the library and it may be time to pick it up once again.
Last night I made chicken and biscuits for dinner, one of my favorites. He told me he was hungry early so I decided to give him dinner before Ben and I ate. I sliced the biscuit, put it in a bowl and spooned some of the chicken mixture on top. Oh, the dramatics! He howled and cried and complained and made himself generally annoying. I told him he was welcome to cry but to go in the other room. He wouldn’t so I left the room. After about 15 minutes of being ignored he pulled the biscuit out and ate that but still wouldn’t touch the other stuff. His dinner sat on the table the rest of the evening and every time he told me he was hungry (often) I pointed it out and gave him an opportunity to eat his leftovers from lunch. He finally ate some of his lunch leftovers about 15 minutes before he went to bed.
Of course during this entire period he was asking for other foods – pretzels, bagels, popsicles, etc. Things I define as fine if you haven’t spent the entire day eating only carbohydrates or things I categorize as a snack. Yesterday was a day where he ate only incidental protein now that I think about it.
His refusal to taste new foods seems to coincide directly with him no longer putting every little thing in his mouth. I wonder if this is a coincidence or if the two things are related?
At any rate, I’ve thus far been able to avoid shoving foods I know he’ll like directly down his gullet to prove he will like it but it’s taking every bit of self-control I have.
I knew this stage would hit eventually but that doesn’t make it any more fun.
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5 comments:
I was a hungry little contrarian as well, until I was about 27 years old, so I understand and sympathize (with Sam, that is).
However, I do not understand rejecting chicken with a biscuit! It's not like it was cauliflower or anything... or like a sandwich cut into triangles instead of squares...ack!
It's probably more of a power thing than enything else. Just keep offering him the food you have made when he says he's hungry and maybe one alternative such as a peanut butter sandwich if you really think he doesn't like what you are having. Too many alternatives just gives him a chance to be more picky. The trick is trying not to comment on his behavior. He's making the choice not to eat not you. It could be he is slowing down on his growth rate now too and doesn't really need as much as he was eating. Maybe he is spending more time inside and not using up as much energy either. The less said about this the better.
Mom
Isn't that just like a MOM to give you good and useful advice?! My first impulse, of course, was to side with the two year old.
Maybe this is why they won't give me a two year old of my own...
Beth, if you want a two year old for testing purposes you can borrow Sam for a weekend....
yeah, right - I want to borrow the kid that doesn't nap!
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