When it rains it pours

[WishfulSpirit]

Parents could just be overwhelmed with an undiagnosed special-needs kid, might suggest getting him evaluated.

[Slayer]

When I was in kindergarten I wouldn't eat my lunch. My mom came to school, sat with me, until I ate it. For days. I guess I got embarrassed cuz I always ate my lunch after that...

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Same here. Ate what mom packed or went hungry...

When I was a kid we had two choices for school lunch. The 2nd choice was nothing.

We were on the free lunch program when I was coming up so it was either we ate whatever was on the menu that day or we went without until we got home (and even if we did, I still threw something together as soon as I got home.)

The kids throw out so much food. It's sickening. I grew up hungry and as a kid, I'd be thrilled to have a nice lunch like we serve.

We had spells of being hungry a time or two when I was growing up . . . and every so often even now we run short between paychecks. I know full well what it's like to work all day without stopping to eat and have to wait until I got home to throw a little something together, some days are challenging when there's not much in the cupboards or freezer and I'm having to fix for 2 others besides myself. So this throwing away perfectly good food just sickens me to no end.

[Trixie]

When I was a kid I just ate whatever was for dinner because that's what I was supposed to do. I mean I guess if I really didn't like what was made I could had peanut butter and jelly but I don't think I ever did. Even for school lunches it was only one thing. Eat it or don't. I think there's more flexibility in school lunches today than there was when I was in school. Kinda sad really how it's become.

[BrenDAnn]

Add me to the camp that always ate what was made, or else. In fact, there's still a sign in the kitchen that one of us bought for Mom years ago about it. It reads 'You have two choices for dinner: 1. Take it or 2. Leave it.' Mom always was a stickler about meals, but then again her cooking was so good I never had any hesitation of eating it, either!

[notalwaysright]

As a kid, I probably wouldn't have been able or willing to eat that much food at lunch. (chicken in alfredo sauce, green beans, a roll and a rice krispie treat) I still don't care for heavy lunches. I'm sure I wouldn't just throw it all away. I was always allowed to leave food if I was full, I was never forced to clean my plate. The food just got put away for later, not wasted. I still think that's helpful for me, I don't keep on eating when I know I should stop. (MOSTLY. *looks shiftily at cheesecake* One more bite...)

I was just reading something about kids and food. It was somewhere in the middle of "you must eat this!" and "eat anything!" It was basically trade good for good. So if the kid doesn't like Brussels sprouts, trade them with peas. Don't trade them with Twinkies. That sounded fairly reasonable.

[WishfulSpirit]

I should clarify. We were never forced to eat anything, never had to clean our plate. If we ate a reasonable amount at dinner that was fine, but if we flat-out refused to eat our dinner, we weren't getting anything else until breakfast the next day. Also, my parents tended to stick to kid-friendly veggies like carrots and peas, I think my mom and dad dislike bitter veggies as much as I do (Brussels sprouts are ICK).

[notalwaysright]

Wishful, I didn't mean to poke at anyone. I'm sure my mom wouldn't have made me a special dinner if I refused to eat what she had made. But honestly, it never came up. It wouldn't have occurred to me to expect that, and I doubt my mom would have considered it. In so many cases I feel like there's a giant pendulum swinging back and forth. On the one side there's forcing everything with no flexibility. On the other side there's letting the kid run the household completely. But there is a middle ground, that's all I meant.

[Kanalah]

I always ask the kids to take at least one bite of everything. Some kids will not each the chicken, but eat the pasta and that's fine. Others eat the pasta and leave the chicken. I just want them to try everything.

[taxguykarl]

He's already on the chubby side and has more metal in his mouth then teeth. *sigh*

I had a classmate like that in grade school. His lunch box typically contained enough junk food to stock a small convenience store.

His teacher tells me he's never listening in the classroom and is always in trouble for his behavior or making inappropriate comments. I honestly hope he'll make it past 25 and have a job.

I wouldn't bet the mortgage money on that

[Food Lady]

" diabesity. " Nice mistake you made there, and it TOTALLY works!

It was intentional. It's a term I've heard in the media to describe the correllation between type 2 diabetes and obesity. I'm not sure which causes which, but they go hand-in-hand.

[Kogarashi]

My mom would have crapped a brick and gone back to making bagged lunches for me.

Mine would've given us a lecture on wasting food, then forced us to make our own bagged lunches (after making sure we only had healthy things to do it with, and generally the only sandwich option was peanut butter which I was sick of by middle school). Growing up, my sisters and I got reduced or free lunches because we were a low-income family, which also meant my mom couldn't keep the house stocked up on lots of lunch options either. We never had any times I recall actually going hungry, but there was a lot of budget fare for dinner.

Kid's gonna end up with diabesity.

Such a perfect term.

though I'm currently trying to break a junk food fixation brought on by a brush with food insecurity, I actually LIKE healthy foods.

I will admit I have something of a junk food addiction. I'm particularly fond of cheesecake and certain types of candy. But I do also like lots of healthy foods, and make sure to listen when my body tells me I need a salad or similar. Plus trying to at least manage my junk food intake. I suspect that's the reason I'm still at a reasonable weight for my height. I wouldn't mind shedding some pounds, but I'm not obese.

I was always allowed to leave food if I was full, I was never forced to clean my plate.

The way my parents handled it was that Mom wouldn't make any separate dinners for us if we didn't like what she'd made. We knew where the bread and peanut butter was and could fix a sandwich ourselves. And Dad instituted a rule that if we served ourselves, we had to clean the plate, but if Mom and Dad served us and we decided we were full, we had to eat a number of bites equal to our age. By the time that number was high enough to clean the plate, we would be pretty good judges of our appetite anyway. The key to making this work, of course, is not serving your kids more than you know they will eat, and my Dad had that down. Hubby and I use the same rule for our kids, and constantly point out to the two middle kids (who are the ones who actually complain that they're full two bites into dinner) that we only gave them a small amount to start, and they should have no trouble finishing it. If we realize we have over-served them (a rare occasion), then we do actually pack away the extra for later.

[mhkohne]

Parents could just be overwhelmed with an undiagnosed special-needs kid, might suggest getting him evaluated.

I would strongly advise NOT to do so. The kind of parent in play here is likely to be the sort that would take 'perhaps your kid needs some extra help' as the greatest possible insult. Saying they should have their kid evaluated is likely to produce a backlash of epic proportions. I wouldn't even say it to other staff for fear it gets back to Momzilla.

[Kanalah]

I would strongly advise NOT to do so. The kind of parent in play here is likely to be the sort that would take 'perhaps your kid needs some extra help' as the greatest possible insult. Saying they should have their kid evaluated is likely to produce a backlash of epic proportions. I wouldn't even say it to other staff for fear it gets back to Momzilla.

Yeah I wouldn't dare. Diabesity kid today ate his cookie, and mommy dearest packed him an extra dessert.

*grumble growl grumble*

[Nunavut Pants]

... generally the only sandwich option was peanut butter which I was sick of by middle school).

Wouldn't have been a problem for me. I love PB, and always have. PBJ, or just PB, sandwiches would have been an acceptable lunch for me all the way up into college!

It's not as easy an option any more, though, because there are an awful lot of kids now who are seriously allergic to peanuts. Some even to the point where they can't be next to someone eating PBJ.