Our daughter is almost 5 years old and is getting in the habit of not eating at meal times then coming to us right before bed time and letting us know she’s hungry. We know most of the time this is a ploy to stay up later, but if we know she’s actually hungry we give her a small meal or snack to eat quickly with no distractions such as TV or games, then send her straight to bed.

When I make dinner I don’t take orders because this isn’t a restaurant, but I keep her in mind and give her a variety of foods that way she’s bound to have something on her plate that she likes and will eat without us having to hassle her to do so.

Tonight’s example is slightly different because we brought home take out and my boyfriend and I ate at different times than her. We got her Burger King on our way to run an errand, then my boyfriend and I got panda on the way home.

A few hours later she had approached us and told us she was hungry. We gave her the option of some left over stew or left over spaghetti (only one day left over, not even old) and she chose spaghetti. Then she sits at the table and takes FOREVER to eat, chews slowly, sits there not even chewing, until we finally tell her to swallow her chewed up food already and take another bite. OR, another classic move, drinks all her juice or water at once and claims she’s full. Lately we’ve been not letting her have a sip of juice until she’s had a few bites already.

I’m not sure how to go about fixing this. We tell her that if she doesn’t eat she doesn’t get sweets or goodies, and sometimes send her to her room until she’s ready to eat her food. But I feel weird putting a kid in time out because they won’t eat? Although it’s usually because she’s stated herself that she’s hungry and is just being stubborn and not eating because it’s not candy or lunchables.

What are your guys tricks and methods for getting pre-k and young kids to eat, and what do you do if they don’t want to eat?