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Share Your Skids' Eating Habits!

LuluOnce's picture

I didn't want to hijack Chmmy's last post, but it brought up a lot of rage for me. OSD13stb14 is home on winter break and the food issues are are always the biggest problem when we are home together too long. (I work part time from home; usually try to be gone at other times but I'm sick this week!) Based on the quick responses Chmmy got, that lots of us have skids with abnormal, unhealthy, unattractive eating habits and/or manners and I want to hear about them!

For me, most of it started this summer when OSD was home more for break. She had camp a few days a week, but the other days she was home, she would eat nothing but the "school day" snacks that she and YSDthen8 take to school and camp. At one point this summer, OSD was eating boxes and boxes of Bel Vita Bites -- in one sitting. Like, literally 12-16 packets (there are 5 to a box) of those little cracker biscuits. After this happened two or three times, I brought it up to DH. We had a stupid argument that went on and on until I logically refuted every one of his stupid points. DH settled on, "Well, it must be because OSD is just starting to become a teenager and has never had to make her own meals" (no sh*t Sherlock, the girl hardly does anything for herself) "and she just doesn't know what she's allowed to eat". (Allowed to eat? Whatever, dude.)

I humored DH. We told her that eating 16 bags of Bel Vitas was either a sign of boredom or hunger, and if she was truly getting to the point of being so hungry that she could eat so many little snacks, it was likely a sign that she was ready for a real meal. I had her write up a list of the meals that she was willing to make on her own. I told her they didn't even need to be healthy at this point, they just needed to be filling and not excessive amounts of school-day snacks. The list of things OSD chose seemed very reasonable to me, for a stb14 year old: pancakes, scrambled eggs, turkey and ham sandwiches with provolone cheese, mac and cheese, spaghetti with pesto sauce, bean and cheese burritos, frozen fruits for her favorite green smoothie, microwavable meals, etc. There is about 20 things on the list total. (She's certainly allowed to eat a bunch of other things that aren't on the list too but this was just a starting point.)

I went to the store and purchased everything on the list. I made a special area in the pantry for her and even posted the list on the fridge off "OSD's Favorites" so OSD would always know what she was 'allowed' to eat and make for herself at any time.

Guess what? It didn't work. DH just finally admitted it this past week too. She still comes into the room and asks, "What can I have to eat?" She texts me when I'm not at home and asks if she can have XYZ for lunch? Usually it's something that is on the dang list that is on the dang fridge that she had to flippin' open to get the thing she wants to eat. She'll stand in the pantry or open the fridge and just stare into it for a solid minute plus until DH or I say, "Why don't you make a...?" She then happily says, "Oh! Okay!" And makes and eats it without complaint. 

You're going to be 14 and you can't feed yourself? Even with a list of choices... a menu, if you will? Even with someone making sure you have every single ingredient or pre-packaged meal to eat? WTaF? 

I partly believe she's waiting us out. I partly believe she's an airhead. But it seems like a way of trying to get us to make food for her. Like, if we see she's hungry, we'll instantly make a meal for her. Or she's waiting to see if we are going to be home soon to make something for ourselves so she can then ask us to make her some too. Nope. Not working anymore, kid. I'm busy. It's the middle of the day. Feed yourself. 

So that's one of my weird pet peeves with skids' food. Tell me about your skids' eating habits and general issues you have around food in your house. I want to hear it all!

Comments

TwelveLongYrs79's picture

If it’s full of salt/preservatives, SDrama eats it up. Oh and she dumps rice into anything imaginable: soup, stew, etc...maybe it’s me but I find it disgusting. Not a piece of fruit or a salad to be seen in her mouth...

LuluOnce's picture

How old is your SD? She makes her own food herself? I mean, it's terrible that she eats unhealthily, but it also gives me hope. Haha.

Mandy45's picture

Our sd17 will eat us out of house and home. So we make her ask permission first or we go you can eat this and this. Otherwise we be buying food everyday. But sometimes when we working late we have nights where everyone fends for themselves she act like cooking up some noodles or making a sandwich or putting frozen meal in the microwave is a big effort. Will ask question after question on how to cook it even though she done it hundred times and we explained it a thousand. All you have to do is read the box. Sometimes she just wont do it at all say she not hungry will eat things that need no preparation. Or she put something on say in the oven or something  and then walk away we end up having to watch it doesnt burn or keep calling her to come and keep a eye on it. One thing about her though she not a fussy eater she loves her veggies and healthy food even when she was a kid. So theres no problem there even though like all kids she still likes her junk. Just sometimes she thinks we a restaurant though think she can just pick and choose what on the menu that day. But we never fall for that crap it like no we cooking this and that it. We both not the type of parents who cook separate meals and things because someone doesn't like something. It either eat this or starve. 

fourbrats's picture

belongs to DH and I lol. But in the end, none of them are junk food junkies. The picky kid is mostly vegetarian. She eats chicken and every once in awhile bacon but otherwise it's salad, meat substitutes, and carbs lol. We really are lucky in the food department. Other than a few things they won't eat (two no seafood, the picky one, two no squash. five no mushrooms, one no peas) they are just typical kids (well adults and older teens now). 

Now when we had five teenagers at home they would eat us out of the house. So we had five separate containers with their specific snacks and likes in them. Once they were gone after grocery shopping they didn't get anymore until the next grocery trip. It only took once of them eating everything and not having more for them to moderate it themselves. 

Cover1W's picture

Nope. I win on picky eater. No veg no fruit literally. Mostly white food. About 8 or 10 total choices. Selective eating disorder. I think she now has vitamin deficiency based on the last time I saw her and how bad her skin and hair looked.

 

 

 

LuluOnce's picture

OSD has this white food problem too! It gets even worse when we go on vacation. At home she will eat a little bit more than white food, but if we travel... nope! She's ordering buttered pasta at every restaurant in every location.

Oddly though, she does like Thai food. Which too me is so opposite of the white food category. But whatever. I

Cover1W's picture

OSD made exceptions only for asian food - but always, always had to have zero veg.  Noodles and protein only.  She's refuse an entire plate of food if there was one itsy bitsy piece of veg in it. Picking it out was not an option.  I always remember the first time I made chicken for them, plain baked chicken with salt, pepper and parsley.  I had to explain what black pepper and parsley were.  And she picked off the parsley!  Crazy making.

fourbrats's picture

out does me! Mine is just hard to cook for if I am cooking for everyone. She learned to cook fairly young so she could make what she preferred. And I always keep a stock of her favorite substitutes. 

We are truly very lucky with food around here. I can mostly work around things like no squash and no seafood which are the two big ones. 

Cover1W's picture

OSD claimed to cook but she didn't really.  She made pasta, rice and boxed mac-n-cheese. She would not touch raw meat, fish, or tofu. Since she didn't eat veg, then she wouldn't prep veg.

Oh, wait, she would sometimes eat edamame!  That was the only exception.

Jcksjj's picture

Mine is odd with food habits also. In front of DH she claims she loves everything he makes and is super picky about it being healthy. 

Not in front of DH, shes much much pickier and mostly eats junk.

She also eats really, really slowly. Like 45 minutes to and hour most nights to eat supper. Idk what she does at school, but even her preschool report card said that she takes a long time to finish snack and every teacher shes had since then has mentioned how slowly she moves in general.

Jcksjj's picture

I just dont get why?? Dont most kids want to get done with eating or whatever so they can get back to playing?

SteppedOut's picture

Just thinking about this pisses me off.

My formerSO's kid was 13 when I left. He was 100% unable to make anything for himself. Left to his own devices, when I refused to stop nursing my newborn baby to cook him scrambled eggs with cheese and toast at 215PM when he finally got his staying up all night screaming at the video games ass out of bed,  he would go eat an entire jar of banana peppers, or a whole block of cheese, or an entire box of pop tarts (raw, because he couldn't use the toaster). And then call his grandmother to go get him some McDs, because I wasn't feeding him. She would get up and make the 40 mile round trip for his rotten ass.

Of course I was the bad guy for "not taking care of him" and if I would just love him like he needed to be loved, everything would be so much better. 

Whew. Yea, glad I left. 

SteppedOut's picture

But the peanut butter out of the jar with his fingers was by far the grossest. I could hear him sucking it off his fingers in the living room (with him in the kitchen). 

LuluOnce's picture

SteppedOut, this is the most disgusting thing I've heard so far. Ewwwwwwww. That is so flipping gross, I'm gagging.

SteppedOut's picture

It was so gross! Even worse he would come and try to touch my baby's mouth with his peanut butter fingers. I told him peanut butter could cause major problems for an infant the first time. Big mistake. After that he would very intentionally try to put peanut butter in my newborn's mouth. You know, because he forgot. Or didn't know. 

shamds's picture

ss eating habits are constant junk food fried in oil then claims he’s on a diet from eating dinner to slim down and skip breakfast etc.

i cook at home most of the time and we eat healthy food (me, husband and our 2 toddlers), hubby will force ss to eat some of what i cooked but ss doesn’t dare help himself because he’s too ashamed since he trashtalks me. He does often help himself to juice in the fridge that i buy.

if ss has bought takeout and my kids think he got food for them (my kids are 3.5 & 2.5), ss ignores my kids or laughs if they cry when they realise he won’t share. He only cares about himself so i do not care about him.

Cover1W's picture

You can read my blogs...OSD with selective eating disorder and the other now in hyper-control issues. Either way I disengaged becuse DH didn't/doesn't want to hear it. I buy basics for household and that's it. DH can spend his own money on food that either is high end or won't be touched.

 

 

 

 

Stepmom3333's picture

My 11 year old SD eating is rediculous, I now refuse to cook for her. There's hardly anything she will eat that's not rubbish, if I get something in for her that she likes she won't eat it because I cooked it, but if her dad cooks it she'll eat it. It's all about control except I don't care if she goes hungry.

Also she will like and dislike the same thing depending on it's form. I.e loves pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon) but doesn't eat sausages. Likes chicken and pies but won't eat chicken in pies.

Dont even get me started on eating out, I've watched her order a fillet steak off the adults menu when her grand father was kindly taking us all out for dinner, if it was my kid I'd say it's rude to order the most expensive thing on the menu when someone else is paying. Of course she hardly ate any of it and was then allowed to order an adult desert - her food bill came to double that of everyone else's. 
I put my foot down when her dad was going to let her order a man-vs-food challenge item off a diner menu. She had a massive strop when he made her order off the kids menu

SMto2's picture

I do think it's important to point out that ALL kids test boundaries & try power plays, and ordering the most expensive thing on the menu is one of them. The difference is in the response. My and DH's DS18 LOVES to order a filet because it's the most expensive steak on the menu. If it's a special occasion, we'll let him have it. However, DH and I have no qualms telling him he can't order one. On the other hand, my DH would never dream of saying anything to either SS about what they ordered.  

Simpleton21's picture

Eh, my son who is the same age as SD has never tried this power play.  Maybe because he is good at math and realizes we are on a budget?  Or that I will tell his ass NO!  IDK, but he doesn't do this at all.  

SMto2's picture

That's fantastic for you! I wasn't saying that ALL kids try ordering the most expensive thing on the menu. I was just using that as an example of power plays and testing boundaries that I think it's commonly recognized most children engage in at some point. (I also acknowledge that there may be children  who have never tested boundaries and never will, so to that extent, I should have used the word "most" and not "all," so I misspoke. Being a lawyer, I usually try to be more precise and avoid being definitive, but I'm on holiday. ha ha ha!) It sounds like you do tell your BS the realities of your finances and have no qualms about telling him "no," which I think some of these guilty daddeeess (mine included) do not. DH and I also have no qualms telling our bio DSs "no," which seems to discourage this type of behavior.

Simpleton21's picture

Oh, he still tries to test boundaries, I guess ordering out and getting the most expensive item isn't it!  He has lots of other ways to test me Wink LOL!  It does also help that I am not afraid to tell my child NO!  Hahaha, I'll forgive this mishap since you are on holiday ;) 

Thisisnotus's picture

SD16 and SD12.....same diet for both and neither can make food for themselves.

on school days when they get picked up BM or MIL and sometimes DH gets them drive thru fried and nuggets....almost daily.

they also eat....chips, ramen noodles, can chicken noodle soup, and frozen waffles....that’s it. And neither drink a drop of water.

can you imagine my dumbfounded look when MIL and DH can’t understand why the kids are always sick and tired. Hmmmmmm

LuluOnce's picture

Ugh... drive thru daily?! That kills me.

We hardly ever go to fast food but when the kids lived with BM half the time, they ate out at fast food or pizza places at least twice a day. They'd stop for drive thru breakfast before school (usually making them late) and then eat out again at night for dinner. And BM had no issues with them drinking as much juice, soda, Redbulls, Starbucks coffee drinks, etc. as they wanted. They were always sick. (And of course whenever they were sick, we needed to keep them!!)

I will say both of my skids are really good about drinking a lot of water now. OSD still has a lot of coffee type sweet drinks because she walks to a coffee shop with her friends after school a few times a week but because she's 1) making friends and participating in social activities, 2) paying for it with her own allowance money -- that she actually earns and 3) is very active and overall healthy, we don't say much about her habits when she's out and about without us.

agitated's picture

My SD17 is VERY picky. There is not one meal I can rememer her not picking something out or making a comment. *nea* She is also, I believe, slightly anorexic. She barely eats throughout the day, at all. She has recently lost weight and is very, very thin. She weighs anywhere between 89 - 92 lbs, but is only 4'11". The "ideal weight" charts say, with her small frame she should be at least 100 lbs, preferably 103. 

hereiam's picture

My SD was not really a picky eater but she was kind of timid, so did not go rummaging about the pantry and fridge for food to feed herself. That was fine with me, DH made sure she was fed, it was not on me, at all.

Now that she's a mom, DH and I roll our eyes at her menus and what she feeds her kids. Total crap. Oh well, not my problem. Sometimes she will call DH and ask him how to make something that doesn't come out of the freezer in a box.

Hastings's picture

My SS9 is, surprisingly, not all that picky. He doesn't like anything he thinks is hot or spicy (basically, anything not bland), but that's not out of the norm for young kids. Hates mashed potatoes, though. Loves broccoli, fish, pretty much any fruit or vegetable. So, that's nice.

Where we run into trouble, though, is table manners. Likes to eat with his fingers, which DH and I both get grossed out by.

A couple of weeks ago, after finishing dinner, SS actually ran his fingers across his plate and stuck his fingers in his mouth. I was stunned. DH reamed him out good for that one. Apparently BM is lax on table manners. SS was legitimately surprised to hear he'd done something wrong. 

momjeans's picture

Skid has always been a terribly picky eater.

Junk food, fast food, restaurant food. She likes it all. But she’s picky with that stuff too. 

She’s all about the pizza and funky fast food chicken. She cannot handle any kind of sauce that’s semi healthy. She’s all about butter, salt, and cheese.

DH, who also LOVES salt, used to salt her already salted food, or sit there at the table with his thumb up his arse, while super young skid grabbed the salt and over applied it to her food. 

Simpleton21's picture

I don't have a problem with my SD being a picky eater.  My problem is that she is an over indulgent eater.  She never asks if she can have something she just helps herself.  Which isn't that big of a deal but I find it a bit annoying when she consumes all of something before the other 4 people in the home have any and then lies about it (which happens often especially with sweets).  She will sneak food in her room (they aren't supposed to eat in their bedrooms) and then hide the wrappers in her closet.  Anytime she has any cash to blow she has to spend it on candy.  Her eating habits honestly disgust me.  She loves candy, sweets, fast food, fries and mashed potatoes.  One time I had the premade Bob Evans mashed potatoes I was going to use with a meal (it feeds 4-6).  She decided she wanted to eat that as a snack.  Ate half of it and threw the other half away.  A pet peeve of mine is waste.  She is very wasteful.  She eats like crap then she complains about being fat......I don't intervene in most of it unless she hoards something that was supposed to be for everyone to herself.  This happens so often that I stopped buying any type of treat or special items when we have her.  I also wait until she goes back to BM before I go to the grocery to stock up on anything that we are low on.  She will seriously consume all snacks in the house in a weekend if they are available.  One time she tried to get DH to save her the last pop tart until her next visit....WTF?!? I told him hell no.  If the people in the home full time want the pop tart they can eat it.  We aren't saving it for her.  She has no manners when it comes to making sure every one has firsts before she has seconds.  Usually the first thing she wants to know when she gets to our home is what is for dinner and every meal after basically.  I could go on and on but I'll stop there. DH has some weird obession with making sure she's had enough to eat but doesn't worry about anyone else.  I have called him out on this before.  "DH why are you so worried about SD being fed and not YDS?"....his response "I didn't think she had anything to eat yet"....his head must really be in the sand.  The one day he was all worried about it I had just watched her eat nachos, a huge plat of french fries and 2-3 donuts.  Or like the other day when we got taco bell "I'm surprised you only got 2 tacos SD!"  You can see she isn't by any means starving.....it is like he wants her to be fat?!?! I don't get it.  And yes, I know this is more a DH problem than anything. 

strugglingSM's picture

My Skids have a preference for junk food and overly sweet or salty things. They will eat real food when we make it and often will say "it's the best dinner we've ever had", but I think that is teen exaggeration. I don't think BM does much cooking, despite what she says. I try to limit the amount of food we buy when they are around, because I know they will eat a week's worth of food over a weekend, leaving me with nothing for the week following their visitation weekend. They can't be satisfied with eating "some" of a treat, they must eat it all at once. I have also learned to hide food I've purchased for myself or hold off on buying it until they've left. 

Simpleton21's picture

I hide food when SD visits also for the same reason.  No consideration for others at all.  However, SD seems to find stuff I've hidden even.  You would think if you had to search for something like that you would realize it wasn't meant for you and maybe at least ask before devouring it but not my SD.  Hell even my ODS that lives with us full times asks before devouring foods in the house.  

silversong's picture

My SS11 drives me nuts with eating, although it usually only becomes an issue when he stays longer than a normal weekend.  I try to mix things up a little bit and he never wants to eat the stuff.  I try to cater to his limited preferences and 99% of the time there's still SOMETHING about it he doesn't like.  Suffice to say he eats a lot of variations of PB sandwiches at our house.

SMto2's picture

Food issues have definitely been some of the most frustrating and challenging as a SM. Both my SSs were VERY picky eaters. Their main diet with BM  (when not eating fast food, which was frequent) consisted of frozen chicken nuggets and Mac n cheese. I didn't feed my family that crap, so meals at home were a challenge. On Friday nights of visitation, we'd order pizza. They ate only cheese & pepperoni, common for kids, but that wasn't the bad part. The bad part was, OSS would wipe his greasy hands either on my custom made fabric chair pads or on his jeans. DH would not say anything to him. I'd try to remind him nicely and was ignored.  Eating out brought other issues. I mentioned on the other blog that oldest SS would order the most expensive thing on the menu and not eat it. If we went to a Chinese buffet, oldest SS would eat only chicken nuggets & white rice, while we paid for a whole buffet. 

Now that SSs are grown, OSS is a weightlifting nut and eats expensive high-protein foods (which becomes a problem when we take them on vacation and pay for everything.) OSS's 2DDs (SGDs) are as picky as he was but eat much less. When on vacation with them,  it drives me crazy that they each order a separate meal of the same thing, eat three bites and then take it in a "to go" box back to where we're staying, only to be thrown away by me when cleaning up to leave. If they were my children, or even my DSs' children, I'd suggest they order one meal & split it, but if I do that with my SS's kids, I risk making him mad or looking like a b*tch. This post is giving me anxiety reliving all these things. Lol. Just know you're not alone!

LuluOnce's picture

I think you are absolutely right about eating bringing out other issues! I think that's exactly what's bothering me. Thank you!

OSD's inability and/or unwillingness use her own brain to make a decision, even about something as simple as what to eat, is actually what's driving me crazy. Especially as we are about to go back to court, again, for what feels like the 800th time, with her flip-flopping about BM. One minute she's afraid of BM (who has a very serious mental illness) and wants us to "protect" her and make BM follow the court order but the next minute BM is the best mother ever and she's basically ready to move back in.

I think what's coming up with a lot of the food stuff is that she seems completely incapable of any type of critical thinking. A never seems to lead to B for her and I am beyond frustrated and perplexed by her inability to reason. If I'm hungry... I should eat 16 bags of Bel Vitas! Uh, no. If my mom says she's taking medication... I should move in with her! Also no. How is she connecting the dots? How does she start here and end waaaaaay over there? 

It's a character trait I really don't like or respect. My relationship with OSD has for the most part always been what I call "decent + 15% more" but this behavior is making it very difficult for me to like her. And I am not used to not liking her. Maybe we aren't 100% bonded but straight up not liking her? This is new territory for me. 

But it's coming out in stupid ways, like how she eats (or doesn't) because the real issue is not really something that I can (or maybe even would) speak to her about. 

thinkthrice's picture

in no particular order:

 

  1. cheese pizza
  2. doritos
  3. oreos by the sleeve
  4. chicken nuggets/mcdonalds or BK
  5. hotdogs with no grill marks
  6. chocolate ice cream with choco syrup
  7. kraft dinner
  8. lunchables
  9. kids kuisine
  10. crustless PB&J  heavy on the "J" with a speck of PB
  11. gatorade
  12. soda
  13. reeses peanut butter cups   (odd considering #10)
  14. donuts
  15. chocolate milk or cocoa cooled down to room temperature

strugglingSM's picture

I'm dying at "oreos by the sleeve" and "hotdogs with no grill marks". 

Simpleton21's picture

LOL, yeah, I am too, I mean really "no grill marks"...wtf?!?! Hot dogs are really only good with grill marks! LOL!

thinkthrice's picture

in the early years, Chef used to scrape off any grill marks on hotdogs or hamburgers before presenting them to the royalty.  I should say that Chef eats like the back end of a woodchipper so some of this may be inherited.  The Girhippo was raised as a COD so she too eats little beyond prepared/junk/fast food.   Chef has totally broadened his horizons since he met me.   He wouldn't eat sushi, oysters, seafood in general unless it was deep battered fried, anchovies, you name it. 

Simpleton21's picture

Wow, that is insane!  I just can't even fathom doing this.  I was also a COD but we still didn't gorge on fast food and all this crap that these kids do.  We also had respect and *gasp* table manners and were taught to wait until everyone was served before overloading our plates or going for seconds!

Simpleton21's picture

Yes, this!  I don't think DH was taught this either though.  His mom also drives me insane with food.  She is a mooch.  When I first started dating DH we would sometimes bring her food.  She was so damn ungrateful about it though and it pissed me off.  Ex.  We would bring her a meal with fries her response "I would have rather had cheesesticks too"...ugh...okay freeloader...no thanks for bringing me food or anything.  Or the one time that we had just ordered pizza and DH's mom shows up with her bf unexpectedly.  DH offers for them to have some (really wished he hadn't b/c we only ordered for us since we didn't know they were going to show up).  MIL helps herself to a huge plate full of the pizza I was looking forward too.  By the time I got to it (family hold back for uninvited guests b/c I had manners) there was like 1-2 small squares left.  I was so pissed.  

LuluOnce's picture

This is a list of what my skids ate at BM's! But please add:

16. Dry Top Ramen noodle bricks

17. Cans of sliced olives (that's the whole meal, btw)

18. Gallon sized Ziploc bag of left over cold spaghetti noodles, straight out of the bag, with their hands

19. 1 cup of vanilla yogurt with three bags of M&Ms mixed in 

momjeans's picture

“no grill marks"

This reminds me of skid when she was younger. She would lose her damn mind when she’d order a quesadilla, what SHE wanted, and it came with brown marks on the tortilla from being grilled on a flattop. 

DH would end up picking most of it off the tortilla, while I sat there dying on the inside. 

So glad I hardly ever have to eat at the same table with her anymore. 

Skid also has this knack of ordering the most expensive thing on the menu, taking a few bites, then pushing her food around on her plate before telling the server they can take her  $18 plate to dump in the trash. 

tog redux's picture

My SS19 had/has good table manners. He's always been a good eater, as well, and DH didn't get him much junk.  Both BM and DH like to cook, so I think he ate decently, though BM certainly indulged him more.

When he was gone (alienated) for 3 years, he grew tall and is now significantly overweight. Drinks pop like water, and loves to eat, period. Not sure he has much else in his life than food and video games.

Cover1W's picture

Since we moved on to table manners...still dealing with those issues.

I refused to go to restaurants with SDs for about 1.5 years because it was always a bad experience.  They refused to take off coats, but took off their shoes, hid under table, jumped on seats, RAN down the aisles, ordered too much food - which usually was chicken strips and/or french fries, OSD ate the sugar packs and drank the coffee creamer (I had waitress remove those from the table if they were there), yelled, begged to leave as soon as THEY were done eating or bored.  This was ages roughly 8 and 10. 

They ate with their hands at home, no napkins.  They didn't help set/clear table until I demanded DH make them do this.  They didn't know how to use a knife/fork properly.  Food would end up all over the table and floor.  They would sit on their feet and "crouch" on the chairs. 

OSD eventually grew out of this pretty well, but YSD is now pushing boundaries at almost 14.  Crouching on her chair again, messing around on the chair, using her fingers to eat, reaching all the way across the table for something instead of asking for it to be passed to her, food everywhere, just awful.  One night DH thought I was being too hard on her - oh, ok!  So I started acting like her, leaving food on the table (you know, serving yourself with plate FAR away from the bowl so it spills off the serving utensil), reaching across them for things, talking with my mouth open...both of them noticed and were like, "what are you doing?" Genuninely confused.  "I'm just doing what others at the table are doing, it's much easier."  DH has been on her since, but sadly, not consistently enough...she also just damaged a chair last week (it was already a bit roughed up but it's now in storage waiting for repair.....).

Bex_S's picture

My SD is SOOO picky it's infuriating. There's only about 4 meals she will eat, and she always nags for sweets and crisps. We can barely keep up as she loves a food 1 week and then hates it the next. She never finishes a meal, no matter how much or little is on her plate. And she eats like a damn animal...it knocks me sick. She can barely use cutlery and still needs prompting to use a knife, rather than nibble the food off the fork. She chews really loudly, practically dislocates her jaw shoving too much food in at once, and gets food everywhere, while chewing with her mouth open. It's disgusting....my 14 month old makes less mess than her at mealtimes. 

Aniki-Moderator's picture

BioHo raised the skids on a steady diet of fast food, junk food, and gallons of pop. "Homecooked" meant a chemical-laden frozen entree heated up in the microwave or oven. I once saw pics of their kitchen. Every surface was covered with junk:

  • numerous family-sized bags of chips
  • a case of Pringles
  • jars of cheese dip
  • a dozen or so bags of store-bought cookies
  • stacks of Little Debbie snack cakes
  • about 20 2-liter bottles of pop
  • PopTarts
  • marshmallows
  • peanut butter
  • countless jars of jelly
  • several loaves of white bread
  • a case of Kraft mac & cheese

The refrigerator door was open. The door had jars of jam and jelly. Nothing else. Packages of hot dogs and cold cuts, a "loaf" of processed cheese slices. YUGE bottles of ketchup and mayonnaise. More 2-liter bottles of pop. The entire bottom shelf was wine bottles stacked on their sides. 

To this day, the only veggie the skids like? Potatoes - in French fry or tater tot form. 

hereiam's picture

We rarely wasted money taking my SD out to a an actual restaurant. She once declared that she loved Chinese food, so we took her to a Chinese buffet...where she ate fried chicken.