A dad has taken to Reddit to share a very simple but genius trick he uses to ensure his kids eat all their dinner.
A dad has taken to Reddit to share a very simple but genius trick he uses to ensure his kids eat all their dinner.
Reddit user BabyHooey said that he was so sick and tired of trying to feed his family the things they like, that he went on strike.
The dad-of-six explained that he loves cooking and had actually been told by others that he was good at it. However, his children were not of the same thinking and every night at least one person would complain about what was served.
“Kids have become so picky that there are literally no meals left that I can make without someone complaining,” he wrote.
“Spaghetti? I make my sauce with Italian sausage and one kid has decided she hates fennel. One kid has Celiac, which rules out wheat (obviously not her fault) so that makes it harder.
"One kid hates cheese, which rules out a lot of things. One kid hates chicken. We were safe for a while with tacos until one kid decided she was never eating tacos again.”
Things came to a head when he was standing in the grocery store, a shop full of food, and he couldn’t think of one meal that he could make that his family wouldn’t complain about. With so much food at his disposal that he couldn’t buy, BabyHooyey decided to retire from cooking there and then.
But that didn’t mean his kids were about to go hungry. Instead of picking up stuff to cook various different of meals, he decided to get a load of ingredients, which he presented to his kids.
“I came home with assorted ingredients instead and told the kids we will still provide food but it will now be their responsibility to prepare it for themselves and feed themselves with it,” he wrote.
“I was expecting a lot of protests, but nobody said much. After about 30 minutes, they decided I really wasn't cooking dinner and they actually started feeding themselves.
"One kid made a turkey and cheese sandwich, one made peanut butter and jelly. The one with Celiac decided to make herself and her sister some noodle soup with rice noodles, chicken stock, and veggies.”
Not surprisingly, the comments came in thick and fast with a few saying they tried this method and it paid off.
“I tried quitting cooking. It lasted a week before they begged me to resume. It was like a reset, they didn’t complain again,” wrote one.
Another took a slightly different approach: "We started something similar starting at 3 years old. I cook every night but the kids are allowed to make their own food if they don't want what we made."
What are your thoughts? Will you be giving this a go?
