Title: How to "Food Ferberize" an Almost Seven Year Old.
Subtitle: I Have Had Enough

I try to be fair. I let Anna choose her breakfast each morning, and we pay so that every weekday she can choose her own school lunch, but when it comes to family dinner... I am just so, so tired of the drama. We're talking tears and bargaining roughly 80% of the time. For years. Yup, that's 4 out of 5 meals, folks. Sad, but true; in this household, dinnertime almost always equals battle time.

I refuse to be one of those MoMs who caters to her child(ren) by cooking separate kids meals and adult meals every evening. Sure, if we're having something especially spicy or exotic, I'll prepare an alternative dish for Anna, but...

she's still sitting at the dinner table, whining and crying, with two options -- a tiny section of a mild beef burrito, and a small bowl of Trader Joe's Organic O's Pasta (spaghettios) -- in front of her. Karl and I finished eating and left the table about thirty minutes ago, but Anna can not leave her seat until she chooses, and eats, one of her food items. This is a desperation move, and I realize I am being a hard-ass, but for the sake of future mealtime harmony, something has to change. Karl is on board. I am determined.

So how do you handle dinner table battles?


update: she took a few tiny bites, we had a calm discussion about how things are going to change, and then we sent her straight to bed.

I am tired.

Rafa backs
away when a stranger tries to place a baby in his arms at the airport ........
now, more than ever, he is Anna's hero.

Left Germantown. OH 7 a.m.
Arrived in WeHa, CT before 7 p.m.
Approx. 750 miles in a diesel Beetle with the kid, the dog, and a hatch full of Xmas gifts.
Two stops only. We are road warrior rockstars!

We have not gone to bed before 1:00 a.m. all week.
We have slept until 9, 10, or 11 every day of vacation.
This coming back-to-school/work Monday is going to be interesting.