05 March 2013

What do you do about a child who refuses to eat?

Number 3, otherwise known as Mr. L, can eat and thoroughly enjoys eating when the food looks good to him.  When the food doesn't look or smell good to him, it is impossible to entice him into taking even a "No Thank You" bite.  Being that he is 4, with all of the pain and joy that comes with being 4, he doesn't quite connect "My stomach hurts" with "I didn't eat anything."

There is a positive side to this.  One of the aphorisms I occasionally hear is, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."   This seems to apply to younger men, also.  This morning he came downstairs while I was finishing my breakfast and gave me a hug and continued to hug me through a morning prayer.   He had a wonderful smile on his face and was so cuddly.  When I was finished saying my prayer, he looked up at me with his wonderful brown eyes and said, "Dad, I'm hungry."