anyone else have a picky eater

Feed the kid the same thing you are eating. When he gets hungry enough, he'll start eating it too. Not that you shouldn't try different healthy options to find something that he does like, but at the end of the day you are the adult and he doesn't get to dictate what happens around the house.

What types of things does he want to eat?

Feed the kid the same thing you are eating. When he gets hungry enough, he'll start eating it too. Not that you shouldn't try different healthy options to find something that he does like, but at the end of the day you are the adult and he doesn't get to dictate what happens around the house.

What types of things does he want to eat?

he wants to eat constantly . for example the other night i made a lean meatloaf for dinner along with green beans with bacon and onion and fried potatoes all appropriate sized portions. he didnt want the meatloaf and basically gave it to the dog he complained about the onion in the green beans etc. i barely got the dishes done from dinner and a quick shower in and he was in our room talking about can i have a snack. i get so frustrated i just busted my fanny cooking a healthy dinner for us and i did dishes and i want to relax and he wants to eat again . he wants to get chips or candy or cookies from the pantry were trying to teach him your snack can be fruits and veggies too. we all watch movies or tv together in our room and if he brings the junk food into the bedroom my hubby will start eating it and then the next thing i know im doing it too.

You are asking a child who is coming into your house to eat what you like. This is not what he is used to eating. You cannot expect him to change his tastes to satisfy your quest. Yes, it would be much easier on you if he ate what you made, but that is not going to be the case. He obviously does not know how to make good choices and that comes through education. You need to meet this child halfway. Make plain green beans for him by keeping some aside when you are going to add things. I love meatloaf, yet not one of my five children would consider eating it. To them it looked like dog food. Everyone has different tastes especially when they are not raised in the household.

Find what he likes that is within reason and make it. This is not any different than if you had your mother or father living with you who had special dietary needs. You would make sure their needs were met. Yet, we assume that children should eat whatever is placed in front of them. Think about something you loathe and decide whether or not you could bring yourself to eat it if it was placed in front of you.

I have a 7 year old grandson. I know what he likes to eat. When I make something that is not what he really likes, I do make something he likes and then I also put a little of what I made also on his plate. I ask him to try it and usually he does. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to eat it.

As for the chips and candy, those are only brought into the house in moderation. We always have popcorn, apples, bananas, berries, and his favorite ice cream. I actually make sure he has a fruit with every meal and when he is hungry, a fruit always accompanies popcorn or chips (if we have them) or even chips and salsa. I also bought an m&m dispenser at the flea market last year for a quarter. I keep it filled and on the television. It dispenses maybe 6 m&ms at a time. He will go and get a few, every once in a while. At first he went though the candy quickly. Now that he knows it's there and he can have it, he may grab some once a day or so.

Also, when kids are getting ready for a growth spurt, they eat a whole lot. They can walk away full from the table and within a half hour be asking for something else to eat. There are times when I think my grandson has eaten enough to explode, but it is just his body getting prepared.

I don't mean this critically, but I get the impression you don't know much about kids. A kid that asks to snack all the time is totally normal. Think about when you were a kid. You probably had breakfast, a snack at school, lunch at school, a snack when you can home, dinner, and probably desert or another snack in the evening, or maybe both. You eat less at meals, but more often. An 8 year old needs like 1500-1800 calories, depending on their size and activity level. Depending on your dietary goals, this kid could easily be eating hundreds of calories more than you every day.

Also, kids have different taste palettes than adults. It isn't until teen years that they start to develop the ability to taste foods like you do. Sweet is one thing that tastes really good to them. Onions, generally, are not. I don't know many kids who like onions, even of they are good eaters. So, for example, with those green beans you made, you could either leave them out so everyone is happy (green beans are perfectly healthy, after all, without the onions) or you could cut the onions big enough to easily pick out or you can leave part of the dish without onions. I thinkits reasonable to serve him dinner and expect that he tries it. You can even have a rule that he has to eat five bites of something before he decides if he likes it or not. Just don't be surprised when there are things he dislikes. Just as there are plenty of things you probably dislike too. You arent asking a lot to have him eat healthy meals with the family, but you are kind of asking a lot if you arent willing to compromise at all. If he doesn't like quiche, but will happily eat omelets without complaint, I'd say pick your battles.

I'd also enforce a rule that he can't call things gross or disgusting. Its rude to people who enjoy those things. Instead, he can say he doesn't care for it or something similar.
As for snacks, let him have one sweet treat (or maybe two mini ones) per day. Other than that, keep a variety of snacks that you don't mind having, but it can't really be just fruit. String cheese, flavored rice cakes, crackers and peanut butter, animal crackers, popcorn, goldfish crackers, pretzels, popsicles, pudding packs or jello, trail/snack mix, etc. If you're concerned about you and your husbands self control, parcel it all out into individual serving sizes for him in snack-sized zip lock baggies. When he gets one, your husband will be less inclined to snack because the kid will probably be less inclined to share.

Just keep in mind he is a kid. Regardless of what he is eating, he isn't accountable for what you and your husband choose to eat. By which I mean, if he and your husband choose to eat ice cream out of the container in bed every night, it isn't his fault if you get a spoon and do it too.

The snacking thing is normal for kids - especially for growing boys. Cut him some slack in that area.

As far as everything else, you set the rules. He eats what is served, and if he doesn't, he doesn't get snacks later. You can also set a rule that he gets only 1 "treat" food per day and has to eat plenty of other healthy stuff too.