Take it or leave it

Johnny is never interested in eating a full meal. At the meal table, he would take a few spoonfuls and run off from the table. Then mum would go around the house ‘chasing’ after him while coaxing him with occasional bribes and threats so that he could finish the food on the plate. Sometimes this arduous task is passed to the ‘kakak’. The whole episode ends with either Johnny screaming to be spared from the food or finishing off the food 2 hours later. Familiar?

We have such “Johnny” in our family. The cane was often used to threaten him and everyone else gets agitated with us. This tactic works only for a little while. Then he repeats this prank and we get more annoyed the following times.

Thank God, we are wiser now. No more cane, no more crying. Instead we instruct this… ‘Son, either you finish off the food before leaving the table or it will be taken away once you walk off. No snacking or whatsoever after that. However if you need to leave the table for some good reason, do ask for permission before doing so.” The first time we instructed this, he disobeyed and therefore faced the consequence. We took his food away for 30 minutes. He returned and finished off his cold food after that. There wasn't much of such incident after that. That's a victory!

Take it or leave it….our children are responsible for the choices they make.