What type of mom are you?

My kids are grown now, but I was raised (and so were they) if you don't like what was made for dinner, go hungry. I never had the time, money, or inclination to make multiple meals for my kids. I guess I am just mean that way.
Although I was never mean and made things I knew they would hate (liver and onions, one of my fave things) unless I knew they were going to be gone.

I have a 3 yo and an 11month old....I make what i feel like having and they eat it, obviously there are some things i still cant put in the babies mouth, but other than that, i dont run a restaurant. It has been like that since day one and it is great...on saturday i asked my 3yo what he wanted for dinner, his answer-sushi. Okay! Good enough:)

My kids are 20 and 17 now, but I have to say I totally missed the boat on this one earlier on when they were little, and there's no steering it back. We eat absolutely no family meals together, except for 3 holidays every year. Everyone wants what they want, when they want it. I credit that to catering to their wishes when they were younger.

Some of that arose from personal doubt. I thought letting them respond to their own hunger, and desires (within reason) would be better than me--a portion-distorted mom--calling all the shots for them.

This approach yielded mixed results--a son who is fit and slim, who moderates his eating without difficulty and doesn't even weigh himself. And, a daughter, who struggles with extra weight (but, not as bad as I am).

I decide what she eats.

I decide what's for meals. I generally try not to fix things I know they absolutely hate, but I'm not a short-order cook. Once a week, I'll give them a couple of choices, say on a night I don't feel like "cooking." I also have the "you must try it before not liking it" rule (and they've discovered they like lots of things they didn't think they'd like), and we have an age/number of bites rule for things they'll eat but don't particularly like which is generally a vegetable or pasta or potato issue (green beans/potatoes/etc).

ETA...my boys are 5 and my daughter is 3.5...if you don't eat it, then I don't fix anything else.

I was the mom who made one meal for my family and if they ate it, fine. If not they were hungry.

Of course I had no problem making an entirely separate meal for myself. :blushing: I'm veg and they are omni so....ya.

I almost always let him have a say, he's 3 and usually helping me in the kitchen anyways. I have no problem making multiple meals though, I grew up incredibly picky and understand not always liking what everyone else wants. My son usually picks healthy choices though yesterday he asked for quinoa, salmon and carrots for lunch. He gets himself breakfast when he gets up, we make lunch and dinner together.

My kid prefers fresh fruit & veggies over McDonalds, so when I let him grab whatever he wants, I never have to worry.

That being said, I make dinner for the two of us... If it's clearly something very adult that he wouldn't like (I like to cook fancy), I will make him something more simple. You can easily prepare two chicken breasts two different ways

Give & Take.

She eats whatever I feel like having for supper that day.

for breakfast and lunch, they can eat what they choose, usually. Today I decided on mac and cheese because one box is too much for one kid, so they both have to eat that. But for dinner, it's one meal and that's that!!
Breakfast is usually cereal or pb&j, so that's not hard. Lunch they choose between fish sticks, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, sandwich, grilled cheese.... none of those are difficult or time consuming to make.
ETA: there are mealtimes. they do not get to eat whenever, I tell them it's lunchtime, if you don't eat now, you have to wait until dinner.