“Refusing to eat” is such an absurd phrase. It says more about your impatience than it says about them.
They’re rejecting WHAT you offer WHEN you offer. They’re not refusing to eat. If you simply allow them to say no, they get hungry and come back (usually within an hour). Ask them what they want from the available healthy options and feed them that.
In fact you can set this up ahead of time. “Child what are your five favorite foods? Great two of those are special occasions only, pick two more. Great. That’s your list. Here’s the deal. At meal time you can pick one of those five. I promise to make it, if you promise to eat it.” This gives them a feeling of control and gives you an easy answer.
This actually makes your life easier because you can plan ahead and always have that whitelist available. And it’s less complicated because their pallets are simpler.
There is a whole branch of child psychology devoted to this question. They’re not refusing to eat. They’re simply not interested in the thing you offered.
I was at a friend’s recently. He prepared a lovely meal. Fresh caught salmon and great sides. His daughter didn’t eat a single bite. I was slightly offended. I overheard the fight later “dad, I hate fish, you know that” (actually quite reasonable) his reply was “it’s not a very fishy taste” (a tenuous argument). She was hungry before bed and did eat. The whole mess could have been avoided by not trying to feed her something she hates. I then watched for the rest of the weekend. Every time she was offered something she liked she ate it no problem.
This does of course assume that nobody else is undermining you by offering them junk when they get hungry after refusing a meal.
They’re rejecting WHAT you offer WHEN you offer. They’re not refusing to eat. If you simply allow them to say no, they get hungry and come back (usually within an hour). Ask them what they want from the available healthy options and feed them that.
In fact you can set this up ahead of time. “Child what are your five favorite foods? Great two of those are special occasions only, pick two more. Great. That’s your list. Here’s the deal. At meal time you can pick one of those five. I promise to make it, if you promise to eat it.” This gives them a feeling of control and gives you an easy answer.
This actually makes your life easier because you can plan ahead and always have that whitelist available. And it’s less complicated because their pallets are simpler.
There is a whole branch of child psychology devoted to this question. They’re not refusing to eat. They’re simply not interested in the thing you offered.
I was at a friend’s recently. He prepared a lovely meal. Fresh caught salmon and great sides. His daughter didn’t eat a single bite. I was slightly offended. I overheard the fight later “dad, I hate fish, you know that” (actually quite reasonable) his reply was “it’s not a very fishy taste” (a tenuous argument). She was hungry before bed and did eat. The whole mess could have been avoided by not trying to feed her something she hates. I then watched for the rest of the weekend. Every time she was offered something she liked she ate it no problem.
This does of course assume that nobody else is undermining you by offering them junk when they get hungry after refusing a meal.