What to do about my picky 4 year old son?

Question

I have a 4 year old son who does not want to eat anything I cook. All he wants to eat is hotdogs. He also wants me to lay down with him in his bed every night so he can go to sleep. Also, he yells and does not listen. I just do not know what to do anymore. Nothing works on him. He is too hard headed and nothing phases him. HELP PLEASE.

Answer 1

I know what you are going through my son is the same way we try everything but all he wants is pizza and french fries the way i look at it as long as he is eating something at least he is eating

Answer 2

My son went through a picky eater stage. I let him help me cook. I also added food coloring in some things. He would add purple in the pancakes or green in the mac and cheese. This really helped. Don't lay down with your son. He may throw a fit even for a long time but just don't do it. The more you give in the more he will act up. The same goes with not listening. If he is doing wrong threaten him with taking a toy away or time out. Then if he continues do it. After he sees that you are no longer giving in he will listen. It will be hard for a week or two but you just have to stick to it. Would you rather have 2 bad weeks or the rest of his childhood having him be bad?

Answer 3

Okay...deep breath! It's a phase...a tiring long phase!!!

My son is almost 3 and is THE exact same way!! It's a phase...My husband says "I wish you'd feed him REAL food" when he sees Joey walking and eatting bread with butter on it...I have TRIED to make him sit and eat dinner with us...BUT he will take half a bite and say..."THis is Yucky!" Take the plate over to the trash and scrape it in...and then say..." cookies please!!"~

He's been in a twin bed now for about 6 months...BUT he won't go to bed in it..we have to let him fall asleep WHERE he wants or he just keeps getting up..which makes me loose my mind! He passes out every night on the end of our bed across the hope chest...I pick him up and put him into his own bed...THEN around 2-3 am...he'll stand at the doorway from his bedroom across the house and scream "MOMMY COME NAP WITH ME"...which means I have to get up and run to his room (so he doesn't wake the entire neighborhood!)and lay on his bed until he falls asleep (which doesn't take long!) BUT once I'm up...it takes me FOREVER to fall back to sleep...which is why I'm always exhausted during the day...He screams and doesn't listen to me either...does he have an older brother or sister?! Cause mine does and he TRIES to do the things his big brothers and sister do...doesn't know that they DOwhat I say and they don't yell at me either!!

LEt's keep our fingers crossed that they outgrow this one....QUICKLY!

Answer 4

Then don't give him hotdogs. If he throws a tantrum and spills his food, only give him one bite at a time. If he throws that on the floor, pick it up, brush it off (don't worry, kids grow up to be sicker from people being too clean) and put that back on his plate. Repeat a few times, if he doesnt eat it, then take the food away and try again later. He'll eat it eventually.

Assuming this is not baby food since he is four, then you should eat some as well when you expect him to eat.

Answer 5

#1 rule..you make the rules and you cannot give in to what he wants, ESPECIALLY when he pitches a fit to get it. You may have to listen to a couple hours of screaming and crying at first but when he realizes you are going to stick to your guns (consistently...it will take more than once on each issue) the tantrums will die down. All my little girl will eat is hotdogs, too. And macaroni. I can't bring myself to let her go hungry, so she has hotdogs for supper and I just make sure she has a vitamin or pediasure every day for nutrients.

Answer 6

You need to figure out who is the boss, you or him! If he wont eat what you fix for dinner then I guess he will be hungry. Right now he knows you will fix him a hotdog so why bother eating what you fix.

At night, put him in his bed and shut the door. He will probably kick and scream for a while but he needs to learn to go to bed by himself.

Answer 7

It is just a phase tha kids go through my little 5 year old sister is going through it right now she doesn't want to eat nothing, but peanut butter and jelly. Just ask him what he wants to eat and feed him what he wants. Unless it's junk food and stuff. You know what I mean. Just let him go through this phase in life and afterwards everything should be alright. and about the bed thing just lay there with him. He might have been having nightmeres latly or he's scared. Lay there with him till he falls asleep. Good Luck!

Answer 8

Make food fun. Have him help make dinner. Make spaghetti and meatballs but call them eyeballs and Worms. It worked for my daughter and she loves to say she cooked the dinner. I also layed with my daughter every night, I stopped when she started Kindergarten. I told her she was so so big that she started school and she didn't need me anymore to help her get to sleep. I also gave her a gift (stuffed animal) and told her it was her job to lay with the animal to put it to sleep. As far as yelling, turn your back and ignore it. If he doesn't get a response chances are he will stop. When you tell him something like instructions have him look you in the eyes when you tell him. Hope it works for you good luck.

Answer 9

He won't starve. Let him go.

BUT no snacks, treats (or juice) either until he has a full belly of good food.

My son is 5 and he is/was the same way. He missed the odd meal, but I guarantee you when he didn't eat dinner, he ate a full portion of porridge the next morning!

I have to admit I cheated a wee bit here though. Not on the dinner one, but the lunch meal. If he didn't eat lunch I did let him have an apple or granola bar for a snack in the afternoon. (he did learn soon that his sister was getting popcorn for her afternoon snack because she ate her lunch - hee hee). ;)

Good luck.

Answer 10

You have to be consistent over a period of time. He wont change in a couple of weeks. Try a reward system of give and take. Get a jar and some pennies. When he does good, throw a penny in the jar. For each 5 pennies, he gets a privilege (watch TV, Play, pick whats for dinner one night, rent a movie etc).

For each time he does not listen, let him see you take a penny out of the jar. No pennies? No privileges.