Adam@Home by Rob Harrell for October 03, 2009

that might be true, Clayton, but he is still right.

No, actually, Adam is wrong. My three sisters & I had to live with that type of doctrine and to this day there are items that neither I nor they will ever eat again. They won’t even serve said items to their families ‘cause they don’t want those items in their homes. Too many bad memories.

Hey Clayton you look like a chip off the old block, so don’t criticize Dad’s looks too much.

I think parents and kids should sit down and talk about the foods they like and don’t like. Give a kid a choice of veggies, they surely don’t hate them all! If there’s something they can’t abide like spinach or mushrooms don’t force them to eat it. Be willing to compromise a bit.

My parents gave me one dislike” I didn’t have to eat. It never occurred to me that their “dislikes” never made it home from the store.

Ji2m, I note the key word in there is “former”.

AddADadaAdDad You misunderstand me. I didn’t say they had to eat it all, I meant what was served was what was available for the meal that evening. That is entirely different. If it turns out that there are some things that can’t be tolerated, then adjustments can be made in the future. I know that myself. I get sick when eating green beans. Nothing Ican do changes that. so I don’t eat them, But I had to eat the first one once (actually three times to prove the problem). Besides, There is usually more than one ore two items on the menu, One wouldn’t think that all of them are intolerable.

i can recall having to sit at the table until everything on my plate was gone (and if it was shoveled to the dog it was replaced on my plate) some nights i couldn’t leave the table until bed time

*Al* When I click on a strip, I scroll down only to the end of the strip, minus comments. The involuntary shudder I received after reading the first panel is what caused me to want to comment, yours not near as much.

And to any young parents who may read this, take it from an old man and please do not force your kids to eat everything you set before them with the doctrine of “I’m the parent, I buy the food, you eat the food”. Trust me on this.

poop.

My sister once refused to eat a bowl of oatmeal and my mom said, “Eat it or it will go on your head!” Well, we still joke about this favorite family story; but today we love our mother and her tough discipline and wish she were still with us.

Today there are too many liberals that are not tough enough to love their children and give them firm leadership that will keep them out of trouble. Parents PLAN the meals to be healthy and nourishing. Children may not like the taste or flavors, but need to learn to eat a balanced diet - or end up fat, sloppy, and in poor health.

Katy - what a harsh thing to say about dear old dad!!!

I always complained when we had a veggie I didn’t like, but I always had to eat it anyways! To this day I won’t eat rutabagas or brussels sprouts! Life’s about choices and kids deserve to have choices in their food as well, as long as their healthy choices. Let the kids figure out what they do like and make that as much as you can. I liked other “greens” and ate those just fine. :-)

What bratty kids. I can’t believe they say that about their dad!

My mom made me eat some green beans and i threw up on my plate. Mom made me go to my room, but she never made me eat green beans again.

I don’t care how good people say they are, to me they taste like boiled grass!

I notice that nobody says anything about how the food is cooked. In cafeterias any vegetables that are served have been cooked to death, practically into mush. (If that’s how your food was cooked, no wonder you hated it.) When you cook them just the proper amount, till they are still a bit crisp, they taste completely different.

If you cook liver till it has the texture of leather, it is also horrible. That’s one reason many people hate liver.

My sister hates liver, but not because my mother cooked it badly - she didn’t. (I love liver, myself, when it’s properly cooked. And those cute little chicken livers - yum!) They never had it in her house. When her son grew up and went out somewhere, and they were discussing food, he asked, “What’s liver?” He had never heard of it.

And there are so many different fruits and vegetables in the world, it should be possible to find some that you like. But forcing people to eat what you want them to only proves that you are the one who has more power.

There’s an old story about someone who hated fish, never ate it, until they were invited to the house of a friend, who served a mysterious, delicious dish - which of course, when they asked, turned out to be fish, properly cooked.

Ever try raw fruits and vegetables? (not all are edible that way) When I was small, the sound of the scraper on carrots brought me to the kitchen to get some raw carrots to eat.

Yes, I guess you could say I love fruit and vegetables. My mother was an ok cook.

I was also forced to eat food I didn’t like as a child. I swore I would never do that to my son but he had to at least take one bite. Nine times out of ten he liked it. If he didn’t he never had to eat it again. Today he likes just about all foods. Can’t say the same for me……..

I tell my children, too, that they have to taste it at least (no “it is not tasty!” after the first look), but they may leave part of food on plate, whether because they are full or because they don’t like that particular ingredient. But there’s also no “my stomach is so empty, I will have some cookies” half an hour later!