I'll try not to be too long-winded here (yeah, right)...
I'm sure I've mentioned the food challenges we have in this house with Little Button. Though we are grateful she eats fruits and veggies, she's THE world's pickiest eater. At least when it comes to dinner time. She simply refuses to even try anything new, and can't stand to have food mixed together or touching or with sauce. Have you ever met a 4 year old who has yet to even try a taste of ketchup or ranch dressing?! And let's face it - that's pretty much what dinner food is. Not ketchup and ranch dressing, but food that is not plain. Because I do not care to be a short-order cook, and because I'm so tired of trying to think up a menu that will include something she will eat (which is only about 3 things), we've been at our whits end. It is one of the biggest sources of frustration we have had as parents, because this beautiful child is so bloody STUBBORN!!! Yes, I'm past trying to label her politely as having a "strong will". She's just stubborn, God love her. I have prayed incessantly for God to help us and to help her. Well, he answered, as He always does. Our answer came in the form of Supernanny. Ha! We don't even watch the show, but we happened to be flipping through the channels last week after putting Ellison to bed, and we happened upon a preview for Supernanny that was about to start. It showed a little person who refused to eat dinners, etc. Our ears perked right up. After watching the episode, we had a parenting discussion and decided we needed to try going the route of making her sit in her seat until she had X amount of bites of whichever food. We mentally boosted each other up and prepared for what we knew was going to be a tough battle ahead.
So come Monday, we had our own Civil War in this house. We had prepped Ellison a few times that day as to the new rules, so she knew exactly what to expect. Nonetheless, at dinner that evening, or I should say after dinner that evening since Jonathan and I had been long since finished with our meals, it was AWFUL! I'll spare the complete detailed version but it seriously was one of the toughest 2 hours we've had as parents!!! She was sobbing, and completely exhausted, begging to go to bed through sobs through the whole thing. The wooden spoon had to get involved, time-out was involved, repeated attempts at placing her back in her seat were involved. Mommy was crying in the living room as the two of us sat in zombie-like trances discussing how much the situation stunk, and whether we should give in after it was going on 1.5 hours of this mess. We questioned our sanity, we questioned where we had gone wrong, I questioned how I was gonna take care of another baby when I clearly wasn't doing it right with my firstborn. And then finally... the glimmer of sunshine as she asked Jonathan to "rinse off" the potatoes. At this point, we were just happy with a step in the right direction. Screw the pork chops. So he sprinkled them with water, she shoved it in her mouth and took a quick drink, and voila! Complete elation on everyone's part. I know she still has a long way to go, but she understood that we will not give in anymore. She was so proud of herself. At least we're heading in the right direction.
The next time we had to use the same tactic it only took about 20 minutes, and we felt so much tougher emotionally and mentally about it. She still tries to test us and beg her way out, or simply say she wants to go to bed, she still cries, but it gets easier each time. We're working her up to having to try more than one bite of things. It's pretty pathetic watching her shove food in her mouth followed by the quickest drink of water as she literally gags and struggles to keep it down. And these are foods she truly likes, people. Goodness, you'd think we're forcing her to slip an oyster down her throat.
[December 13, 2010]
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