Hard@ss

Wow, I'm feeling a bit emotionally wrung out right now!

I have just gone through dinner with the two younger children not wanting to eat it.  Recently we (or really I should say I, as I've always been the soft touch) decided that I could no longer keep letting the children just have something else to eat if they didn't want dinner.  I guess I remembered disliking meals in my own childhood and didn't want to force them to eat something they didn't like (for me it was mashed pumpkin nearly every night of the week and seriously, it really did make me nearly vomit!  I used to have to mix it with some potato and wash it down with milk after each bite).

But, having been lenient as turned into a nightmare.  While the eldest has come through for me the last few months and pretty much tried everything that's been put on the table, Henry (6) and Florence (3) have been getting worse and worse.

I spoke to dh last night about not yelling at the table anymore.  (You can refer back to a previous post about me giving up yelling - obviously that's a personal decision and not one my dh feels inclined to also do... I can't force him to make that choice!).  But, family dinner instead of being a nice thing, was becoming tense for everyone with dh getting angry at Henry for not eating. I can understand the frustration, particularly as he feels that I give in too easily.

Anyway, dh and Jack are out at soccer training tonight so it enabled me to do things my way without having to worry about dh getting home from work and having to listen to the kids going on and on and him trying to help end it (by yelling).  We had enchiladas (YUM!) with both Henry and Florence declaring before it had even been put on the table that they didn't like it and wanted something else.

To give Henry credit, I think he did have the decency to grin a little sheepishly when Florence started up the chant of "I want something else.  I WANT SOMETHING ELSE!" because he KNEW she was copying it from him.

I had explained that this was all the dinner there was - nothing else was on offer if this meal was not eaten.  Henry said he didn't like the corn tortilla bit.  "No worries," I said.  "Just eat the mince with the melted cheese and sour cream."

I finished my dinner while they carried on (screaming that is, not eating).  They went to have showers, yelling still for that elusive 'something else'.

I let Jonah know once he was in his pyjamas, that after ten more minutes, even eating enchiladas was off the table and he'd be going to bed.  He carried on crying and after a few minutes I told said okay, you can go to bed.  His reply, "OKAY, I"ll eat the enchiladas."

I just said okay, that'd be good.  I heated them up and offered him sour cream and he ate it.  He listened to Florence in her room crying and even mentioned that "Wow, she's going to be really hungry".  Kids crack me up!  I said, "Yes Henry, you're right.  She is going to be very hungry."

I'm not a good hard@ss and when Florence went to bed hungry, I had to keep reminding myself that no child ever died from skipping one meal.  I was quite ready to let her come out and eat her enchiladas but she is stubborn.  I guess that has what has gotten us to this point though.  Previously I would let her have a banana, toast etc, because I didn't want her to go to bed hungry.

She sobbed her heart out and I ended up giving her a long cuddle in her room and then patting her while she lay down.  She was also overtired after a huge day with no day sleep, so after all the crying it only took a minute of patting and she was calm and asleep.

Hard@ss 101 - I might get a pass mark yet.