They will not eat the dinner
You cooked the thing. They looked at it and ate the bread. This is so common it has a page, and the page does not tell you to win.
Young children refuse food because of taste, shape, colour, texture. They like it one day and hate it the next. They refuse new things.
They eat a lot, then hardly any. Raising Children ties that to development. Choosing is how they poke at the world and practise being their own person.
Appetite also follows growth and how much they ran around. The picky phase usually shrinks if you keep offering a wide range rather than locking the menu to the three foods that currently work.
The room matters more than the recipe. Regular meals, people at the table, low stress. Spills are part of it.
Start with a small amount on the plate, or put the dishes in the middle and let them take. Never force a bite. Forcing buys you a worse meal tomorrow and a child who trusts you less.
Fun is allowed. A shape, a job, washing the lettuce, whisking an egg. The television goes off so the meal is the meal.
If they fuss, your calm is the strategy. A meal that drags is not fun. About 20 minutes, then you clear it without a commentary.
No bargain, no you will sit there until it is gone. A child who cannot switch onto the table gets a five minute warning, or a hand wash, so they arrive in the room instead of mid-game.
Division of labour, and it will save your marriage to the dinner. You decide what healthy food is on offer, from the ordinary food groups, and you eat it too. They decide how much goes in.
Two or three choices, not an open fridge that overwhelms them. Carrot or cucumber. Not what do you want, which is a question with too many doors.
You will feel rejected by a plate. Eat yours. Offer the refused food again another night without a speech about last time.
One exposure is not a verdict. If weight is dropping, or the list of accepted foods is tiny and shrinking, that is a nurse or GP, not a harder stare. Most fussy eating is a phase you survive by not turning the table into a court.
Cook one meal for the table when you can. A separate kids' menu every night teaches them that refusal builds a second dinner. You can still keep one plain thing they usually manage, on the table, not as a prize.
Source: Raising Children Network