Parenting Corner: The joys and trials of raising little Villans

[Rugeley Villa]

My kids fortunately are not that fussy at all and eat well. They also eat bad too but eh a little bad don’t hurt no one . My kids are everything I weren’t as a kid and I say that as a compliment.

[one_ian_taylor]

40 minutes ago, Mozzavfc said:

Any advice on fussy eating toddlers? My daughter has become so fussy with food recently and it drives me nuts. Both me and her mother spend so much time and effort making meals for her only for it to be flat out refused. Thank god for frozen fish fingers. Seems the only thing we can guarantee she'll eat

No tips,  but with you on fish fingers. Today's rise to get her to eat was to tell her a secret for every spoonful of beans. Yesterday it was eating  spaghetti hoops  with chopsticks. meanwhile our younger daughter  packs down everything (sometimes literally) and we worry we're over feeding her. I think  a lot is nature, but also control.

[Rds1983]

2 hours ago, Rugeley Villa said:

My two daughters are like cat and dog. 

You make them crap in the garden?

Edited October 2, 2023 by Rds1983

[Rds1983]

45 minutes ago, Mozzavfc said:

Any advice on fussy eating toddlers? My daughter has become so fussy with food recently and it drives me nuts. Both me and her mother spend so much time and effort making meals for her only for it to be flat out refused. Thank god for frozen fish fingers. Seems the only thing we can guarantee she'll eat

Hopefully just a phase. 

Our son is the same (seems to get worse when they start school/nursery and see other kids being fussy) but he's got better over time.

We tell him he doesn't have to eat what we've made but he's not getting anything else. Put the ball in his court but make it clear it's this or nothing. Skipping one meal won't hurt them.

However, the wife often caves and agrees to give him something like fruit and yoghurt if he'll try what we've made.

[Rugeley Villa]

4 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

You make them crap in the garden?

Some days I should 

[AlwaysAVFC]

1 hour ago, Loxstock92 said:

Anyone else’s kids have a noise sensitivity when they were toddlers? 
 

I’ve just picked up little un from childminder and she said that he was freaking out at the sounds of motorbikes and aeroplanes above to the point of complete meltdown. This seems new as he’s never really been like that around me and mrs. 

im trying not to freak out cause he was born prematurely and he had a bad reaction to gentamyacin which I know can affect hearing. He has an audiologist so will mention at next appointment but yeah just wanted some other peoples thoughts.

My daughter is 6. I think I might get her hearing checked out. We often have to repeat what we say to her but then other times she is fine. She doesn't particularly like loud noises and environments, that's been the same since she was a toddler.

[Rds1983]

2 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

Some days I should 

When we first moved to our current house our son was about 3 and a half. Been here about a week and I'd dug an old tree stump up out of the garden and filled the hole with soil.

I caught the lad squatting over it with his trousers round his ankles and asked him what he was doing. 

He replied at the top of his voice that he was doing a poo in the garden and then screamed at me as I scooped him up and ran inside.

Our next door neighbours house went on the market 3 days later.

[Paddywhack]

My eldest started primary school last month. We’ve got absolutely no idea how he’s getting on, what he’s doing or if he’s made friends.

You get a couple of seconds with the teachers at drop off and pick up where they quickly tell you he’s been fine. I know it’s normal, I’m sure he is fine and they’d tell us if there was any issues, but I do find it strange.

I asked him this evening if school was fun today and what he’s been doing and his response was “I’ve got two hands”. 

[Wainy316]

33 minutes ago, Paddywhack said:

I asked him this evening if school was fun today and what he’s been doing and his response was “I’ve got two hands”. 

[Rugeley Villa]

My son started high school the other week. Scary times for us but he wasn’t fazed at all. He’s already got a bird , and new mates so fair play. 

[Seat68]

17 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

My son started high school the other week. Scary times for us but he wasn’t fazed at all. He’s already got a bird , and new mates so fair play. 

Is this your Son?

[hogso]

Our own challenge at the moment is that my 2 year old daughter can now climb out of the crib. It was nice while it lasted. We've got one of those cribs where you take off one side so it's like a little bed, so for safety's sake, that's what we've done. 

Last night was her first night in there, and she likes it - her big girl bed - but the temptation to get out and just **** shit up is too strong. I ended up lying in her bed with her for 2 hours last night before she eventually went to sleep. 

[Stevo985]

18 hours ago, Mozzavfc said:

Any advice on fussy eating toddlers? My daughter has become so fussy with food recently and it drives me nuts. Both me and her mother spend so much time and effort making meals for her only for it to be flat out refused. Thank god for frozen fish fingers. Seems the only thing we can guarantee she'll eat

A little tip that is helping for me, is feed him her what you know she'll eat but put something new on the plate.

So for example, give her the fish fingers, but have some pasta or something on the plate too.

She might not eat it for 3 or 4 meals but eventually she'll be used to it and she'll try it.

 

My son is quite a fussy eater but he gets there in the end. in my (limited) experience, it's not that they don't like the food, it's just that it's different so they won't even try it. Getting them familiar with it is the battle. 

[Rds1983]

43 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

A little tip that is helping for me, is feed him her what you know she'll eat but put something new on the plate.

So for example, give her the fish fingers, but have some pasta or something on the plate too.

She might not eat it for 3 or 4 meals but eventually she'll be used to it and she'll try it.

 

My son is quite a fussy eater but he gets there in the end. in my (limited) experience, it's not that they don't like the food, it's just that it's different so they won't even try it. Getting them familiar with it is the battle. 

It can be unfamiliarity but it can also just be kids being tricky.

My son often decides to just go off certain foods (occasionally as someone at his school says they don't like it).

His favourite fruit for the last 5 years was pears. He decided yesterday that he hates then and isn't going to eat them again. 

[Xela]

5 hours ago, Rugeley Villa said:

My son started high school the other week. Scary times for us but he wasn’t fazed at all. He’s already got a bird , and new mates so fair play. 

Like the Fonz!

[bobzy]

19 hours ago, Mozzavfc said:

Any advice on fussy eating toddlers? My daughter has become so fussy with food recently and it drives me nuts. Both me and her mother spend so much time and effort making meals for her only for it to be flat out refused. Thank god for frozen fish fingers. Seems the only thing we can guarantee she'll eat

Just keep serving up the good, healthy stuff (assuming that’s what’s not being eaten?) and try to make it a positive experience rather than “you must eat this” type stuff.

Our eldest was pretty fussy - still is - but we just kept giving, say, salad with her meals. Wouldn’t eat or even try it for a while; now she’ll snack on cucumber/tomato/pepper for fun (which, added bonus, takes away all the processed crap for snacks).

We did stupid stuff with peas; each mouthful would result in something happening. So she eats peas and gets “clapping peas!” (everyone claps), “shouting peas!” (everyone shouts) etc etc.

Its tough not to just give in, but you’ve got to remember you’re looking after your child rather than just doing whatever the **** they want  

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

but you’ve got to remember you’re looking after your child rather than just doing whatever the **** they want  

This is the battle I'm having with IDKWTCH. She basically gives our son anything he wants. Like if he points to a snack she'll give it to him otherwise he'll cry.

But he cries for like 30 seconds and then he's forgotten. 

I'll just say no and let him get temporarily upset. It's not like I'm horrible, I give him loads of stuff, he has a great life. But I don't want a kid growing up thinking he can have everything he wants all of the time

[MNVillan]

Mrs MNVillan & I have been trying to get pregnant for a couple years without success. We weren’t sure it was even possible due to some intense chemotherapy she went through back in 2019.

We finally achieved pregnancy, but on Friday went in for an 8 week ultrasound and they could not detect a heartbeat. Needless to say, it has been a crushing blow to us. However, I do take a little solace in the fact that now we know getting pregnant is a possibility.

[Rds1983]

2 minutes ago, MNVillan said:

Mrs MNVillan & I have been trying to get pregnant for a couple years without success. We weren’t sure it was even possible due to some intense chemotherapy she went through back in 2019.

We finally achieved pregnancy, but on Friday went in for an 8 week ultrasound and they could not detect a heartbeat. Needless to say, it has been a crushing blow to us. However, I do take a little solace in the fact that now we know getting pregnant is a possibility.

Really sorry to hear this bud. How's your wife doing with it? Hopefully not blaming herself, over analysing or withdrawing into herself (I've seen that happen).

As you say, focus on the positive. 

[MNVillan]

4 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

Really sorry to hear this bud. How's your wife doing with it? Hopefully not blaming herself, over analysing or withdrawing into herself (I've seen that happen).

As you say, focus on the positive. 

She’s devastated but not showing any signs of troubling behavior (our doctor gave us a booklet on what to look out for).

 The first thing we were told is “neither of you are at fault, nothing you did caused this to happen.”  It’s easy to ask what happened and get frustrated when the doctors don’t have an answer, but I think we both realize that this is part of life and honestly a fairly common occurrence.