In article >,
"Bob (this one)" > wrote:

> Marcella Peek wrote:
> > In article <Qx9Ef.82513$4l5.20121@dukeread05>,
> > Roberta > wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Marcella Peek wrote:
> >>
> >>>In article >,
> >>> "Bob (this one)" > wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>In our house, from the day we brought them home from the hospital, it
> >>>>was you have to at least taste it. If you say "yuck" you never have to
> >>>>eat it again if you don't want to.
> >>>
> >>>Opposite of our house. You don't have to clean your plate. You do need
> >>>to help us all have a pleasant dinner time. If you say "ick, I don't
> >>>like that" or similar you then need to eat it all for subjecting us to
> >>>your whining.
>
> "I don't like that" is whining?
>
> >>>If you say nothing, but ignore it and don't eat it you
> >>>will not be questioned nor forced to finish that which you do not like.
> >>>Rule applies to diners of all ages. Works well for us.
>
> And if the kid says "The reason I didn't eat that is because I don't
> feel well," is that whining?
>
> Interesting characterization of whining.

Yep. Granting that there may be more there than is evident in the
response, it certainly _appears_ that the "Rule" is -- anything a kid
does that happens to annoy the adult will lead to punishment. Whereas,
of course, the adults can do anything they damned please to annoy the
kids. It appears to be a prescription to keep the kids constantly
terrorized.

I'm with you on this one, Bob; work _with_ the kids, so you _all_ can
enjoy your meals together. My childhood meals were generally a night-
mare, compounded by my mother's mostly rather poor cooking. There
were lots of foods that I _now_ know to be interesting that were sheer
hell when they appeared on my plate back then. For example, potatoes
were generally a horror -- but I discovered later that what I had a
problem with was the cheap margarine that they insisted we use on
them (my mother kept the butter for her own use on popcorn; I loved
the popcorn...)