Dinner Stand-off

The Scene: The dinner table
The Players: The Eagle & the Dandilion
The Conflict: Uneaten Grilled Chicken

Tonight the Eagle layed down the law at dinner. This was one of the nights that the Dandilion decided he didn't want to eat, even though he had been asking for "dinnertime" for a good half hour. We put him in his chair, he took one look at his plate (same food he had devoured a week ago) and pushed his plate away. In the time it took the rest of us to eat, he played with his fork, repeatedly asked to "go play" and said "no" every time he was asked to eat.

So there he sat.

Dinner came & went. He was not excused from the table. He complained. He cried. He asked for drinks. He watched the table get cleared and the dishes get washed. Eventually he was alone in the kitchen, as the rest of us passed in & out of the room.

And nearly 1 hour later - just before we were about to put him to bed - he ate his dinner. All but one bite of chicken. [Picture two completely stunned parents]. When I went to get him out I asked for a high five, which he gave me, and said "Now that you ate your dinner, you can go play" His answer: "Great!" And off he went.

...

To be honest, neither of us thought he would eat his dinner tonight. But we decided that we needed to put an end to these occasional power struggles before they get out of hand. He seems to do something like this at dinner about once or twice a week, and then eats very well the rest of the time. We hoped that not giving him extra milk or letting him get down without eating tonight would help us in the future. Not sure if it will, but we are hopeful that the fact that he did finally eat tonight is a sign of good things to come.