Meals

Both. Separate meals if I’m eating later or not cooking for the adults, otherwise the same and any meal I put down is eat it or nothing else.

Me and my partner eat later than the kids so we can enjoy it without having to see to the kids needs. We always do a complete separate dinner to what they have. If they don't eat the meals we serve them then they go without!

@Hayley what kind of stuff do you give them? I worry when I do separate meals they just get crap like nuggets, pizza etc xx

Always together and the same meal ❤️

Both - more often than not we eat once she’s in bed except on weekends! BUT she tends to have we have eaten the next day if that makes sense So we have lasagne Monday she has it Tuesday etc If she doesn’t eat it and it’s something she likes then tough she can have some fruit or some toast but that’s it If she doesn’t eat it and it isn’t something she’s had before or particularly likes then we check for something else Some day she absolutely has pizza or nuggets (add some cucumber makes me feel better!) some weeks she has about 5 pasta dishes a week 🤦🏻‍♀️ x

I do both! If I’m not eating or making it for me or hubby, I’ll make stuff for him (always find it easy to make homemade things and freeze them like cheese broccoli pastry wheels, home made pizza etc) if I’m cooking for all of us he will have what we have x

@Iona Kelly pretty much the same. Cheese and pasta is the elite for my 3 year old. Asks for it every day 🙄 We are lucky that the grandparents cook them dinner twice a week and that's always from scratch (roast every Sunday) so that's why I'm not so worried with them having processed foods, plus me and my partner work so have to do what we need to do to get by. Fish fingers, sausages, quiche, beans on toast, egg on toast, sausage and bean melt, steak/chicken bake and chips etc etc xx

Separate on the days he’s home and not at nursery in the week, as husband and I eat later. Sometimes that’s leftovers, so it’s our meal but the day after as Amy said, or it’s a different meal entirely. At the weekends we all eat together. I don’t have the time for separate meals all the time, so from early on he just ate whatever we ate. I don’t offer back up meals or alternatives because I try to offer foods I know he eats/likes alongside anything new. If I’ve made something he’s really unsure of but has tried it and genuinely doesn’t like it, then I’d offer something plain and boring to fill him up but not be so tasty he wants to refuse meals to get it, if that makes sense?

He eats with me and eats the same meal as me

Together most the time but seperate if we are having something spicy or stir fry as my little ones not a fan.

Always together and always the same meal, there is only fruit later if they don’t want it xx

Separately mostly in the week, we like to eat once he’s asleep. We have a very busy work life and we don’t want to eat dinner at 5pm. He has tea at his grandparents house 3 nights a week. On a Saturday and Sunday we usually do an earlier dinner/late lunch type thing where we eat together. If he doesn’t like his dinner we don’t re make a whole cooked dinner but he can have toast with peanut butter, Greek yoghurt, fruit - that type of thing. I’d never expect him to finish his plate if he’s not hungry or eat something he doesn’t like, he’s 3, I don’t expect him to eat like an adult 🤷‍♀️ maybe when he’s a bit older it might be different but we are very relaxed with food xx

@Ellie see my problem is he doesn't like toast and penut butter, or Greek yog or fruit or nothing nutritious 🙃x

We’ve always eaten together. Even when she was newborn she would be in the bouncer watching us eat. Meal time is important for us as a family to chat and model how to eat etc. she’s always eaten the same as us and if she doesn’t eat, she knows she doesn’t get anything else. but we’re lucky we are able to do this as we don’t work shifts. I know it’s not so easy for other families to do this and they just need to get food in their children

@Iona Kelly that must be really difficult. I’m lucky my LB likes a lot of healthy foods but he’s never been that keen on “hot” food and is a real grazer. What about things like porridge or weetabix? I think as long as you getting food into them, that’s all you can do! Xx

If we are all eating together its the same meal, i even add the veggies she doesn't like and tell her just to move them to the side. If we are eating later, I'll make her something different, and that could be fish fingers, jacket potato cheese and crackers, tuna pasta

My son is hungry straight after nursery so he eats around 6:30-7, and we eat at 9 once he is in bed. In most cases he eats leftover dinner from the night before, but I modify it like no curry paste for him, and just do a creamy sauce instead, etc. Sometimes when I know we will have a takeaway later I just put something quickly: boiled egg, prawns, carrot and cucumber sticks and crackers with cream cheese. Something like that, that needs minimal 10 min cooking.

We eat together and same food. Occasionally we'll adapt what we're eating if we know it's something she won't like e.g. just giving her certain parts (as long as it's a balance and contains veg) or we add extra spice to ours after serving. Today she had boiled sweet potato rather than homemade sweet potato chips as she prefers that (and it's healthier anyway!).

Thanks everyone. My son is just so fussy, he won't try anything new. And all the stuff he does like is processed 😔