What's wrong with eating??

Sito and I eat a lot. I would say we eat to live rather than live to eat. A simple meal from the mixed rice stall would suffice for lunch every day. But we do enjoy our food.

But why don't the kids eat?! Ok, correction - they do eat yogurt, candies and biscuits so... Why don't the kids eat DINNER?

Kai has been less than enthusiastic about dinner. In fact, he said that he would feed himself in school but would only eat if fed at home! After a difficult dinner two Mondays ago, I finally put my foot down and told him to feed himself. But we had roast chicken fried noodles the next day and he didn't like the smell so nope, he did not feed himself.

It wasn't until Thursday, 20 October, that he was finally feeding himself. He even reminded me that he could put away food he didn't like if he had tried it - yes, I did say that on Wednesday so ok. Learnt this from a book called French Kids Eat Everything - you don't have to like it, but you have to try it.

Over the next few days, he still said he didn't like certain foods without trying. I made him try. And trying is not just putting the food into your mouth but also biting into it for the texture. Usually, his verdict remained unchanged. But last Tuesday, he changed his mind about the pork pieces - yeah!

But the war was hardly over. It was so tiring and frustrating at dinner time until I read an article over the weekend. I had read something similar before but this time, I decided to take the advice - we would decide when, what and where to eat while the kid would decide whether and how much to eat. There is no consequence - except hunger - if the kid doesn't eat, i.e. in our case, Kai can still have his fruits and milk if he wants them.

So since Monday, I told Kai that he didn't have to eat his dinner. He decided not to eat. When I drew his attention to the soup, he decided he would just have the soup. Good enough. And yes, he had his fruits and milk. The next day, he said he would try the tauhu, which was coated in a sweet peanut sauce that looked like sweet and sour sauce, which he likes. But he smelled it and decided not to eat it  - I had to resist asking him to try it. Today, he had a few mouthfuls of rice and vegetables.

But he hasn't been hungry in the middle of the night. The past few mornings, he had three slices of bread with peanut butter though. And two cups of milk. Well, if he prefers to load up in the morning, so be it. I should try to sneak in other breakfast options.. He asked for mayonnaise this morning so perhaps egg mayonnaise?

Muffins? Sure!

Yang fares better though sometimes he rejects vegetables and lately, he rejects all fish. But he's only two - I don't think Kai ate much meat back then! And since he's already eating more than Kai at dinner, I shouldn't complain, much as I would like him to clean his plate. Oh but interestingly, he likes lollipops and gummy bears but he isn't too keen on cakes, unlike Kai who really likes sweet stuff...

Let's see what this new approach brings. Even if it does not help Kai open up about food, it probably will be a matter of time before he eats more than me and Sito combined - we really shouldn't complain then. Unless, of course, he gets too fat *.*