[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by MRM

Mike, seriously chill with the kid. Get him outside and run him around until he's hungry enough to eat whatever. One of the best pieces of advice we ever got from our docs was that there are three things you can't force a kid to do: eat, go to the bathroom, and go to sleep. If he's six and you've already had him into counseling and you're worried about ADHD, it really makes me wonder if you're getting a little too intense for the kid. He's going to grow up and develop into a fine young man no matter what you do. He'll learn to eat other stuff. He'll be a polite, constructive member of society no matter what mealtime rituals you instill in him. So why fight over it? Maybe family counseling for parenting advice would be helpful. It's always nice to pick up tips and other techniques from other parents and pros in the field.

As to the apples, he's six years old. Sometimes when you're that age you start out in the day thinking you'd like some apples. So you ask for them. But when you get around to eating lunch, what seemed like dessert in the morning looks like an extra helping of fruits and veggies, or you get filled up with delicious PB&J, and so you don't eat it. I know I've done the same thing and my chonological (but perhaps not mental) age is considerably older than 6. How much do a couple apples cost? Is the toll on you, your wife and the kid worth the value of the lost food? And no, it's not the principle. Kids need to learn to throw away food. They shouldn't take it if they're not going to eat it, but more harm comes from forcing people to eat all they take than comes from throwing away the excess that shouldn't have been taken. Just tell the kid the next time he asks for apples that you'll only give him one slice because he didn't eat any the last time, and that if he eats it this time, he gets more next time, but if he doesn't eat it, he gets none next time.

Don't turn things into a battle of the wills with a 6 year old boy.

Edit: By the way, my older son who went through the same phase now eats anything, including authentic Chinese stuff my wife and her mother eat, including a lot of stuff I can't even force myself to touch.

+ 1000 Best advise I've read on OT in a long time.