A question for parents of teens, past and present.
What happens when your teen doesn't want the meal that is being planned/cooked? My theory has always been, as it was growing up, "You eat what the family is having, or you go without (or maybe you eat some fresh fruit as your meal)." That's the way it was growing up for me. The added bonus for my kid (over me as a kid) is that my wife (cooks three nights a week) and I (cook four nights a week) are much better cooks than my mom (seven nights a week) and dad (never) were.
When our daughter was younger, there were some dishes that were a stretch for her taste buds (e.g. a spicy Indian dish) that we didn't expect her to eat, so we substituted other things. Now that she's older, she can handle dishes like that.
Still, at least half the time, kid refuses to eat what is being planned and demands something else. Wife thinks this is fine ("she shouldn't have to eat something she doesn't want.")
Hence, two dinner meals are often cooked. One for the adults and one for the kid. Actually, this happens three times a day...I typically eat cereal for breakfast and a dinner leftover for lunch, while kid refuses to eat cereal or leftovers of any kind and expects a cooked breakfast (or at least a blended smoothie) and a cooked lunch. (And if course i get bitched at by my wife, because my kid refuses to eat anything i offer, so the breakfast and lunch duties fall to her, and that's somehow my fault.)
Is this normal and acceptable at this age?
