Last night’s dinner was not a success as I had hoped, although deep down I expected this. I cooked the girls chicken and vegetables with noodles. I did not have much in their bowls and thought that they might pick at the chicken and eat some noodles at the least.
The reaction was tears, screaming and yelling. “No, Yuck!” And, “No mummy we are playing outside, we will eat later” This ended with the girls realising that there was no other choice for dinner and if they did not eat this they would go hungry.
Lillian after while caved in and had some chicken and noodles, not much but it was a good try. She got rewarded with a chocolate koala and then had milk.
Julia was not interested and very stubborn. She decided to have a temper tantrum and stayed in the kitchen yelling, screaming and crying. I thought since whatever I said was making things worse that I should just leave her to calm down. I could see her crawling on the floor and her head was poking around the corner, until I saw her face and then more tears and she did not want to look at me. I am the bad parent for making her eat the dinner and not offering her other things.
Daddy got home early and Julia went to tell him that I was not feeding her and that I was being mean to her. I did tell Julia if she just ate a bit of the dinner then she can have a treat and milk like Lillian. She refused so I refused.
After a bit of cuddle time with daddy and telling on me to daddy, she seemed willing to try again if she had the pink bowl for her food and of course not with me. So organised the pink bowl and she ate quite a lot of the chicken and I think some noodles, not sure. At least this is a good start. She then got a chocolate koala and some milk. Finally a smile out of Julia, I hugged and kissed her and told her what a good job she was doing.
It is hard being the bad parent and having the kids hate you, but if it means that they eat more food and get more variety, I suppose it is worth it. How have you gone with temper tantrums at dinner and what has the outcome been? Is there ways to make the tantrums end sooner than carry on? Do you know how, if so share your special secret ways with us.
