I know exactly how you feel... My SD refused to eat anything that I cooked. DH did the bribing thing... The I just got pissed because she was disrupting the little two. Finally I had enough and I told DH to stop and let me handle it. Well, she realized that daddy was gonna back me when I made her sit there til I felt as though her eating habbit was better then what she portrayed. I made her sit at the table until she was done. I did not over proportion her plate... maybe 1/2 cup of veggies, taters, and meat... well, when dinner got ice cold and she sat there bawling her eyes out, and begged and begged to leave the table, she got the rude awakening that I was not going through the trouble of making a meal for 6 for her to not eat anything. Then her having the nerve to ask for chips and cookies....

She sat there for 2 1/2 hours one night. needless to say, what ever I make she eats at least 1 helping whether she likes is or not... then she can leave the table and if I feel as though dinner was not that much of a hassle, she could possibly get rewarded....

There is an easy fix to this but your SOs have to implement.

"Kid, we have served you an appropriate sized dinner. You will eat what is on your plate. You will begin by trying everything on your plate. If there is something you do not like you do not have to eat that item but you only get that option for one item on your plate. You will eat everthing else on your plate. If you make a face, complain or whine about anything on your plate you will be given an additional serving of that item and you will eat every bit of that item that is served you. If you complain again, another serving......."

It will take about one time of having to force down a double serving of Brussle Sprouts or squash and that kid will never complain again about food.

I guess we were fortunate with my SS. He ate what we ate and to this day he will try and eat just about anything. The one exception is mushrooms. He loved them when he was a toddler but does not like them as a young adult.

When my brothers and I were growing up you ate what mom cooked. It was nearly all excellent. If we brought friends for dinner and they complained .... they never came back for dinner.

My BFF from HS lived with my family for a year when we were at UT. After every meal he would give my mom and hug and say "that was good and I enjoyed it". To this day (20+yrs later) my dad, brother and I tell my mom after every meal "that was good and I enjoyed it". It is always the truth. Mom is an amazing cook. My son and I do the same with my wife's meals.

"That was good and I enjoyed it" goes a long way to building goodwill with the cook.