Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

QueenJess

Baileys_Babe said:

Yes, @QueenJess I believe they will eventually grow out of most of it but they will test your patience for a long time first.
It is so frustrating when they stop eating food that they previously liked and to leave the delicious crispy outer of a roast potato, that is sacrilege.

My ds disliked potatoes whichever way you served them when he was little, now he will eat them most ways even if it is only a small portion with the exception of jacket potatoes. Which is what we are having tonight, ds will have the toppings and instead of potato, he will be offered bread or wraps. We can all have virtually the same meal with no extra work for us. One downside is we don't have jacket potatoes as often as we otherwise would.

Oh yes - I refuse to make different meals... This is not a restaurant! I make small amendments for DS where it is easy to do so and I insist he tries everything we put on the plate. As I book then roast the potatoes, I am considering leaving a couple out for him as I hate the waste!

Bluegreen143

Yes, we all had the same meal here too. The children are always welcome to have plain Greek yoghurt as well/instead of their meal so they don’t go hungry but other than that I don’t make anything different. The good thing is because it’s always Greek yoghurt there’s no negotiating and while they like unsweetened yoghurt it’s not exciting enough to tempt them away from a meal unless they don’t like it (if I offered say toast they’d choose that every time!).

One good reframe re “plate waste” for young kids is that it’s an inevitable part of the learning experience for them. It’s not wasted as it’s fulfilled it’s function of exposing them to the food. If we stop giving them the food because they say they don’t like it that usually solidifies their dislike so it’s often better to keep serving a very tiny portion to them and accept that may go to waste.

Baileys_Babe

I think that is a good alternative and easy for you @Bluegreen143 and as you say not exciting enough for them to select it without giving dinner a fair try.

I would consider doing that as well @QueenJess but probably a smaller than normal serving of potatoes and if he wants extra he can have roasted. As long as you feel this isn't going to add to your load.

stymied

@Baileys_Babe our daughter asks for jacket potatoes but she will only eat the inside mashed with a fork with lots of butter, so essentially turned into mash. Could that work for you?

Bluegreen143

We’ve spent all morning putting up Monkey’s new bed! Absolutely love it 😍 the book geek in me loves the integrated bookcase best. Think it was a great buy for £140!

Red just needs to make a couple of thin picture book shelves for the wall (above where the plastic box of picture books is temporarily sitting) and we’re done with it. Now need to sort out Bambi’s room as we swapped their kallax units so she has the bigger one now.

Four_Seasons

that looks brilliant! one very lucky little boy x

QueenJess

Wow - that looks fantastic! I love a good bargain 😀 (and I am book obsessed.. - I made my parents keep all the books I ever had from my childhood. You can imagine how many we have now they are reappearing in my house for DS!)

FtbDreaming

Wow that bed is a bargain. Looks really good quality! Isn’t it lovely when it all starts to come together x

Baileys_Babe

That is a lovely bed @Bluegreen143 and it works very well in that room. We love books as well and have bookcases in nearly every room.

stymied said:

@Baileys_Babe our daughter asks for jacket potatoes but she will only eat the inside mashed with a fork with lots of butter, so essentially turned into mash. Could that work for you?

Thanks for the suggestion @stymied when he was little ds didn't like potatoes in any form including crisps and chips but would eat most other foods. He is now 15 years old and is taller than me, he knows occasionally we will have a meal that somebody doesn't like and we will make a few adjustments so they also have a meal and they just have to live with it. He will enjoy all the toppings (i will put out a selection for everyone to help themselves to) and have a good selection just swapping the potato for homemade bread.

He will tolerate mash as the topping for a pie and will have a very small portion if it served on the side but he doesn't like the texture (he didn't like puree even as a baby). As he can both make and slice the bread I am happy for him to not have a potato.
If when he was younger we felt he was being inconsistent or just playing up we would have been more persistent with him eating potatoes.
He eats other forms of carbohydrates rice/pasta/pastry/couscous/bread (including crumpets, cobbler, dumplings, pizza base, naan). He also eats a huge quantity and range of fruits and vegetables.

I'm sure it will be helpful to others and to be honest I enjoy potatoes mashed up with lots of butter and black pepper 😋

Porridgecat

That bed looks lovely, I also love the bookcase. Its a great space saver having all the storage under the bed. 
I read an interesting piece about children's eating a while back and have looked for it now but can't find it. It was called "you don't have to eat it' and was about removing the power struggle from food.  The theory was that you always offer some food that the child will eat, as you do with the yoghurt, and then other foods. if the child doesn't want something or moans about it, the reply is 'you don't have to eat it'.  The theory is that if you remove the fuss and the arguments and leave them to it, they'll start to eat more foods. Not having children myself I'm not sure how well it would work but it seems to work on the teenagers I have in breakfast club at school.