grandson not eating well

[Knot2loud]

Originally Posted by maddysgrammy6

Thank you for the advise everyone. I think the texture thing is a lot of the issue. So do you let him eat chicken nuggets and hot dogs every night?

We never tried to force the issue. After all... they won't starve. Sometime, when we have them over, we'll take a bunch of food that we've had in the cabinets for awhile and just cook up a regular old buffet and let them munch on whatever's there.

[Peace777]

I saw something on television the other night that may help. The mom made a game out of getting her little girl to eat. For healthy choices in the girls lunch she would get 3 stars for example, 2 stars for less healthy and 0 stars for treats...and she actually put the stars on the items.....once the child earned a certain number of stars she was rewarded for something special she wanted...like a special toy or book or an outing. She had a chart and put the stars on each day. I thought it was a great idea, as I have a little one and have used a similar game for eliminating some behaviour issues and it worked wonders.

[maddysgrammy6]

Yes we also you smiley faces on good days and sad faces for not so good days. I do like the idea of the more stats for the healthier foods. I think we will try that.

[snafu]

Have his parents expressed any concerns to his pediatrician?

When my DS was little and I had concerns about his diet I talked to his dr.

[maddysgrammy6]

She is going to talk to his doctor this week

[Cremebrulee]

I bet, it's the texture thing, like KayKay expressed....

Small kids have so much more delicate senses then we do....taste, touch and hearing...loud noises can hurt their ears....and the textures of different foods, sometimes they don't like....my grand daughter grew out of it quickly, but she even hated the textures of different things that she touched....

[rattlesnake]

I came upon this thread which is a few years old and though I will add to it with the current issue.

My grandkids are going through battles with their step-mother about what they eat and it does become a power struggle sometimes. The food is not the only struggle, I'm sure, but I think it is a biggie.

My GD has been grounded long term just recently because she not only would not eat what step-mom fixed for her, but got sassy and very disrespectful about it, having a tyrade, I suppose (I wasn't there but I'm not going to exactly defend GD's behavior since I know they can act out). She is 8 years old BTW.

These kids, quite frankly, eat better and are less picky than a lot of kids IMO. I went to their summer rec program and witnessed them having lunch there. The kids were all served cooked broccoli with lunch. Most went in the garbage but I watched two little darlings eat every bit of theirs. I was proud of them. They ate the rest of their meal too. Even so, in this case, I think the bigger issue was probably her disrespect and acting out with her step-mother. I just don't think long term grounding of an 8 year old is the answer. I personally think it would be more effective to stand her in a corner for 1/2 hour and then when she was done sobbing and thinking about everything, maybe she'd come and discuss how to avoid such a scene the next time.

[PeeWeeMomOf3]

Originally Posted by rattlesnake

I came upon this thread which is a few years old and though I will add to it with the current issue.

My grandkids are going through battles with their step-mother about what they eat and it does become a power struggle sometimes. The food is not the only struggle, I'm sure, but I think it is a biggie.

My GD has been grounded long term just recently because she not only would not eat what step-mom fixed for her, but got sassy and very disrespectful about it, having a tyrade, I suppose (I wasn't there but I'm not going to exactly defend GD's behavior since I know they can act out). She is 8 years old BTW.

These kids, quite frankly, eat better and are less picky than a lot of kids IMO. I went to their summer rec program and witnessed them having lunch there. The kids were all served cooked broccoli with lunch. Most went in the garbage but I watched two little darlings eat every bit of theirs. I was proud of them. They ate the rest of their meal too. Even so, in this case, I think the bigger issue was probably her disrespect and acting out with her step-mother. I just don't think long term grounding of an 8 year old is the answer. I personally think it would be more effective to stand her in a corner for 1/2 hour and then when she was done sobbing and thinking about everything, maybe she'd come and discuss how to avoid such a scene the next time.

Step-parenting is fraught with complications. I hope your grand-kid's step-mother can be reasoned with and sensitive about her special position, and maybe she needs coaching to choose her battles with the kids wisely. It would be the kid's father's place to discuss that with her privately and come to a consensus. My understanding is that it's best for the parent to handle the discipline, though kids are going to push boundaries and such. If the child was very sassy and disrespectful, then some discipline is necessary. Hopefully, moving forward stepmother will prep food that is not going to be a major battle, and have a decent toolbox of techniques prepared on how to deal with any resistance from the kid(s), it may not be about the food at all but about the relationships, emotions, control, lack of it, etc.

Maybe Step-mother can offer an olive branch in some way and get child to come grocery shopping with her and Dad and pick some of their favorite foods to cook and prepare together.