Learning to lose with the most pride intact

Lately Kasey and I have had to form a united front against the two year old. And it hasn't been easy. Robbie is very clever... and he has all my old tricks plus a few of his own. Dinner time is the worst.

We just finished dinner and Robbie ate well. I mean, he ate a decent quantity. I'm not really thrilled with what he ate, but it's the first time in at least a few days that he actually ate meat. Do mini corn dogs count as meat? I really don't want Robbie eating hotdogs... and corn dogs are even worse. But there comes a point in the "battle of foods" when you begin to settle.

Don't get me wrong. We don't stage a food war every night we sit down to dinner (not that it hasn't happened though). We try our best to appease our son while still maintaining a small bit of what we feel is acceptable.

A normal dinner goes something like this...

We ask him what he wants for dinner. We have started doing this only because if we don't, when we put his dinner on the table, he always declares that he doesn't like it (even if it's something he loved the day before). So we give him choices. Many times he chooses something that isn't one of the choices... I think it's his way of controlling the situation.

When we finally settle on a dinner that we can both live with, he either goes off and plays or if he can, he helps make it. He loves to make the food... he just doesn't eat it. So those people that say letting them help cook it will make it more appealing... are wrong!

Anyhow, once it hits the table (his dinner of choice)... there is a 50% chance that he no longer wants it and he wants the other choice that you gave him in the beginning. This begins the "war".

It never ends well. And while I always believe in winning against a two year old. I have come to the conclusion that with food, you can't win. You certainly can't pin him on the floor and force the food down him... that wouldn't be a win. You can't threaten him (never worked on me... certainly doesn't work on him). All you can do is one of two things. You can pretend you don't care if he eats it... he can go without dinner. Or you can make a deal with him... for example, "eat three bites and you can have some raisins". This is not my favorite approach, but after three dinners in a row of no food, you get desperate and even the most miniscule piece of meat seems like it's better than nothing.

I call this losing with as much of your pride in tact as possible. I'm happy to report that Robbie ate about five mini corn dogs tonight, dipped in about a quart of ketchup and followed it up with a small spoonful of corn.

What gets me... is he likes most of the food we put in front of him. Chicken, beans, hamburger, corn, carrots, broccoli, etc. He used to eat them in great quantities... and in the moments of making a deal, he will eat the bites with no problem, no gagging, no faces of disgust. I think he just doesn't want to eat it because he knows we want him to.

This is my curse for being a picky eater when I was his age.