What's for dinner?

Those three words bring instant stress into my life. Living with a picky eater can ruin meals for an entire family!

Let me first say, that I am not a push-over mom who lets the kids do whatever they want. I'm pretty strict (a necessity with 3 boys). I've always said, "eat what I make or starve!" Unfortunately, my 9 year old inherited his mother's stubbornness. That kid will go to bed without dinner just to prove a point!

I've gotten to the point where I keep dinner plans a secret all day because I can't bear to listen to the complaining. "What's for dinner, Mom?" "Oh, you'll just have to wait and see..."

It doesn't matter what it is, I get the same response - chicken? "No! I hate chicken!" pork chops? "No! I hate pork chops!" meatloaf? "No! I hate meatloaf! It's disgusting!"

Well, last night I snapped. I went about my business cooking the 'secret' dinner until he looked into the pan and yelled "I hate chicken!" and I picked up his plate and threw it away, to my husband's shock, and announced "No dinner for you tonight! I'm done!" Then I sat down and started to eat with 4 pairs of eyes bugging out at me. (Lesson: don't mess with Mom at the end of a long day!)

Pretty soon, eldest son got up and prepared himself a strange mish -mash of dinner that consisted of yogurt, a cheese sandwich, and pretzels and sat down to join us. No more complaining and I got to eat my hot meal in peace. I'm not sure what I accomplished, but somehow we both feel like we won that battle.

Let's see what the response is to tonight's dinner.