People who do the whole "eat it or starve" thing with kids are douchebags. amirite?

I think a lot of kids think certain foods taste "gross" because compared to stuff like mac n cheese or chicken nuggets and dipping sauce, it's not as sweet and those kids crave that sweetness. Idk but I always ate and like everything on my plate and now I eat pretty much anything. I do think that too many parents coddle their children when it comes to food simply because it's easier to appease the child

by Anonymous 1 week ago

This is so true. You can experience the same as an adult. Try eating a raw carrot after a year of no/very limited acces to sugar. It tastes a lot sweeter.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

That's how you end up with chicken nugget adults

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Just get off the Internet and eat your broccoli Ralph.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

so don't know where the ‘starve' comes in in most instances. There are plenty of circumstances where a whole meal is disliked and it's either that or nothing. Been there myself. It's not as rare as you think, and a lot worse than people here realize.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

My kid has Arfid. He'd just die.

by Swimming-Fee 1 week ago

😂 well he loves crackers, but that's about it. 😂

by Swimming-Fee 1 week ago

Yeah this opinion screams privilege. The biggest reason I have heard people say this is because food is scarce, or can be sometimes, and you don't have the option not to eat it, it's all that's there….

by Dry-Mulberry3603 1 week ago

Also screams I've never been a parent. If you have more than one kid wtf are you suppose to do? Cook each one their own individual meal? Watch how fast you change your mind when you're cooking 3 kids 3 separate meals.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

My number one job as a parent is to teach my kids, "life isn't perfect, deal with it." You don't always get what you want, but you'll get what you need, and anything more than that, be grateful. I'm not going to force my kids to eat something, but dealing with the consequences of not eating dinner with the family (aka going hungry for the night) is also a lesson that must be learned. Eat it or starve is an important lesson to learn in life.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Eat it or starve is an important lesson to learn in life. Yup. Gave me unhealthy relationship to food and a mild eating disorder. Very important lesson. Mainly for the parent I cut contact to tho but there was definitely a lesson somewhere I suppose.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

As an adult being invited to events does not normally include asking what you want to eat (sometimes weddings have choices) parents want children to be able to behave gracefully in all circumstances

by Specific_Hair_8091 1 week ago

I'm an adult with a full life. There are many times in life when you are invited places and have no control over what is served. In fact some high caliber jobs invite a potential hire to just such circumstances to be sure they handle it well

by Specific_Hair_8091 1 week ago

I like coming here because it reminds me just how wrong people can be.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Okay? Have fun I guess.

by ActivityOpposite6788 1 week ago

I was one of those kids. I'm 23 now, and if I don't have something I know I'll like, I straight up won't eat. I'll go days without eating, and it's not because I'm being stubborn, it's because I literally can't force myself to eat it

by Difficult_Search 1 week ago

I'm 32yo and same. Sadly you're not alone with it and it is clearly not a matter of "growing out of this"... For me this also projects on water, I happen to hate water and therefore struggle drinking properly if I only have pure water available because I can't bring myself to force it down basically. It feels like I was called a picky eater as a kid, but this exact treatment is what made me become picky....

by Anonymous 1 week ago

So true! I don't know if there's actually a name for it, but I have heard from a couple of child psychologists that giving kids control over little things like their outfit for the day, or if they want to eat with the blue plate or the pink plate, helps reduce resistance to big decisions because the kid doesn't feel like they don't have a voice. Tofu not having a taste is crazy. I can't say I've had it, but I have had soymilk which is also may from soybeans and it very much has a flavour.

by ActivityOpposite6788 1 week ago

I feel that. Honestly I've gotten really into the combination of meal prepping and not having snacks in the house, so that I not only have food that I know for a fact is catered to my tastes, but that I don't have any snacks that I can eat in it's place.

by ActivityOpposite6788 1 week ago

Kids can be ridiculously stubborn and fussy. They will refuse to eat something, but if you lie and day it's something else they will love it. Some parents do give up and just give the kid anything they will actually eat and they end up eating nothing but crap.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I'm guessing you're in your room after a dinner where you had to eat some food you didn't like? Mom is mean af. "This is what we're having, eat it or don't." is not even close to the same thing as your little "Oh I'm going to make you starve unless you do what I want" example. I guess this is unpopular? More the typical uninformed though.

by No_Garage 1 week ago

My mum cooked one meal and that's what we got. My parents ate it, we kids ate it. We all got the same thing. Sure you could choose not to eat it, but that's what's for dinner. I think people coddle kids too much

by StatisticianSlow 1 week ago