Reverse psychology

By Marie - 11/06/2020 17:12

Today, while trying to get my picky daughter to eat her dinner, I pretended to take some of her food and give it to her brother, thinking that would get her to eat it. Instead, she thanked me. FML
I agree, your life sucks 1 097
You deserved it 783

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Try the "That's Cool" method. Daughter doesn't want to eat what's in front of her? "That's cool, I'll put it in the fridge for later". When she complains about being hungry, you give her her leftover supper. If course, you'll want to make sure she doesn't have access to snacks or other food for this to work.

I can confirm this works. The lack of a reaction will take them by surprise. And telling them they’ll have to reheat that very plate when they’re hungry later will make them think twice about just eating it now while it’s fresh. - Mom of four kids here. 👍🏼

Comments

You know, you're supporting your daughter's anorexia. You may want to change tactics and quit using euphemisms like "picky." Anorexia is actually one of the deadliest mental health disorders.

So...doing like every parent in the world does and tries wither their kids. Absolutely normal lol.

Try the "That's Cool" method. Daughter doesn't want to eat what's in front of her? "That's cool, I'll put it in the fridge for later". When she complains about being hungry, you give her her leftover supper. If course, you'll want to make sure she doesn't have access to snacks or other food for this to work.

I can confirm this works. The lack of a reaction will take them by surprise. And telling them they’ll have to reheat that very plate when they’re hungry later will make them think twice about just eating it now while it’s fresh. - Mom of four kids here. 👍🏼

That's beyond messed up. My parents starved me for days on end, just trying to get me to eat food that was literally inedible. They had some BS claim of "you need to eat this to get your vitamins" while I would have gotten better nutrition from eating what I wanted than from eating nothing at all. Just feed your kids, even if you have to make something else. It's more important that they get food than that you dictate every element of their diet.

Ever considered asking your kids what kinda food they actually like as opposed to forcing or emotionally blackmailing them into eating your potentially shitty food? Should look up ARFID tho, perhaps your daughter suffers from it, perhaps she may be hoping to pursue a new dietary preference that OP doesn't approve of; like veganism for example. This hardly feels like the whole story imo. Kids are rarely picky out of malice. I'd also suggest cooking alongside your kids; the "authoritarian route" is rarely effective, especially once they hit their teens.

The follow up to that is " You're welcome - now you eat the rest"

Well, at least she's polite. As a person who was a picky eater due to being allergic to eggs and celiac, I urge you to look into the possibility of allergies and food sensitivities. Due to parents forcing me to eat foods that made me sick, my sensitivities grew more and more severe to the point where I would vomit every time I ate and bleed when I used the restroom. Please try to figure out the cause of being a picky eater as it could cause life long diseases if she eats too much of the wrong foods.

faithhh 6

I think some people in the comments are trying to make good points but are reaching way too far. Not everything is life or death. Kids can be picky just out of pure preference taste, not because of mental disabilities and allergies. I mean it’s always goo to look into, but as a kid and even now I refused to drink milk or eat cheese. That didn’t make me lactose intolerant like everyone always ASSUMES, I just think they taste bad. Because that’s how people are. They have taste preferences.

KittenShitz 12

Don’t force your children to eat what they don’t like