Define Snack

I **think** I have been in the throws of a parenting power struggle here recently. I let things slide (maybe a bit too much) when Sassy was sick, and now I need to figure out how to take back the reigns, people!

So, Sassy has aways been a picky eater. She doesn't like to try a lot of new things, and most of the time she attempts to refuse dinner. We have the one-bite rule, and she knows that if she doesn't give dinner a good try, then there will be no other options later (besides dinner... again).

Combine this typical behavior with a week-long hunger strike due to that nasty virus, and I am convinced that the SRS will be knocking on my door and accusing me of starving my child. After 3 days straight of not allowing a morsel of food to pass her lips, I was giving her whatever she wanted, Dr.'s orders.

Now that we have entered back into health, the battles have begun in hopes of resuming some sort of normal eating pattern. Sassy will not sit down and eat breakfast. She will not sit down and eat lunch. She wants a "snack". That's all. She insists. S-N-A-C-K.

At first, her idea of a snack was strictly literal- we're talking goldfish, teddy grahams, fruit snacks, etc. Well, obviously, these are not suitable meal replacements. After many tantrums and time-outs, she began to realize that I wasn't (quite) giving in. I kept offering healthy alternatives- string cheese, a banana, an oatmeal square. These are all things I can feed her for breakfast and still manage to sleep at night. But, they are still "snacks", according to Sassy.

Issue two arises due to the fact that she thinks she can sustain on goldfish alone. She has a fit when I tell her no more goldfish for the day. I mean, a FIT. How do I sleep at night- by purchasing the whole wheat goldfish, of course. Yes, because that makes them a total health food, right??

As for our third issue... every time I put her dinner plate in front of her, she whines and wants "somefin else". It never fails. Now, she has been pulling this for quite some time, and it has definitely gotten worse since "sick week". The one-bite rule has pretty much gone to the wayside and most times she gets down without eating a single bite (...or I give in and get her a yogurt or some turkey so that I might sleep at night).

I am at my wit's end. What's a mama to do? I better learn quickly... Little A is only weeks away from rice cereal.

And then there are two...