Obviously, this is not acceptable behaviour and could be potentially harmful. How much is your child eating during the day? Are they having a snack before dinner? I know my two are usually pretty eager for dinner and hungry and ready for it. Have you tried making them sit and eat something? Offer a reward for finishing too?

Try playing around with meal times. Perhaps you are eating too early or too late.
Dont make it war. Most kids wont starve themselves so if he wants an apple simply give him a bowl with an apple in it and dont even bother serving up meals.
Dont stress too much. Its very doubtful that he will be 18 and still only eating an apple for dinner.

It’s a tough one! My kids and particularly my husband are very fussy eaters – don’t like certain textures, colours, foods touching etc etc We’ve worked hard to find options they can cope with that are ALSO nutritious – and we stick to them and I try not to mind that it’s so boring!! 😂😂 and I sneakily order curries and fun salads on uber for myself.

Is the dinner time an issue at all? Maybe you need to try a different time slot or no after school snacks. I know no snacks would be hard for the other children. I don’t know what to say other than sitting him down for a discussion about, asking what the kids want for dinner and planning ahead.

I feel your pain. Having a fussy eater is hard. One of my children was a real fussy eater and would only eat shoe string chips and corn on the cob or vegiemite toast most nights for tea. She did however also eat spagetti bolanagse, which we had once a week and I used to disguise grated carrot and grated zuchini in it. I was happy that she was at least eating something for tea, I found the more fuss was made that she wasn’t eating much the worse she got. The good news is that now that she is an adult she eats really well and isn’t fussy anymore at all!

This is a tricky one. With me I have never really given my kids the choice not to eat dinner or to eat something else. I always make them at least try to eat a good portion of the meal. I know this is not a popular method these days but it was how I was brought up and while my kids do have some fussy tendencies, they have always been pretty good about eating dinner. I do agree that a good meal may help your son to sleep better – it seems to work that way with babies, so no reason to think older children would be any different. I would also be careful about any afternoon snacks. If he is getting enough to satisfy him before dinner, that could also be another incentive not to eat it. You could also potentially offer a reward for eating a portion of dinner and go from there, like a lolly or something he likes.

Does he eat an after school snack? I really think that when my little guy is of school and I’ll push dinner to right after schools finished. I remember that’s when I was most hungry as a kid. Then as others have suggested, getting the kids to help cook their own meal might help

All great comments here. They’ve covered a lot of what I was going to suggest.
– include them in making the meal can help
– check for a possible cause ie. health issue or emotional
– include them in deciding the meal for the family
– perhaps try some books or educating them on why a varied diet is so healthy.
It’s interesting that there is also difficulty sleeping. There could be something else at play. Stress, social troubles etc.
It’s fairly normal for kids to go through a fussy stage but I agree the fact it’s rubbing off on your other kids is a tough situation. You could speak to your eldest about setting a good example for the younger siblings and really make a big deal about what a great job they did eating more dinner than they normally did. Start small and build up. Kids love positive reinforcement. Good luck with it x

A fussy eater can be tricky; have you looked into causes ? does your child have sensory issues ? is it about taste or texture ? is there consumption of too much sugary foods impacting the appetite ? When my kids were younger I would have dinner early rather then going into mid afternoon snacking. I found it helpful to involve them in meal prepping and buying the items we need together to cook. We also would make together a meal plan for the week. I would have a mixed platter at least once a week for dinner which was always a hit

Are they all not hungry. Maybe filled up on snacks. So not interested in dinner. If it gets binned are snacks given? We do a small after school snack and straight into a early dinner if it doesn’t get eaten no dessert or any other snack foods are allowed. No issues the meals get eaten.

It’s probably a textural thing. Kids go through food stages. I have a friend whose son went through a stage when he would only eat White food. I would cut up the apple into slice and top it with peanut butter. That was he’ll be getting some protein at the same time. Most peanut butters contain some sugar &/or salt so this should make him hungry and want to eat more.

I feel your pain, my child won’t eat a variety of foods and eats the same thing every day. This has been a real struggle for me for almost 4 years now. I think as long as they are healthy and getting the nutrients in other ways, try not to worry too much. Can you give your kids vita gummies to ensure they are getting enough goodness in their diets. I do this with my daughter and have her checked by the doctor regularly and so far she is in the healthy range for all things. Worth considering.

Do you involve the children in meal preparation? I found that with my son, who could be a picky eater, that is he had some involvement in cooking, or even serving, that he would try more things (which enabled us to work out what he truly liked and didn’t), and eat a little more (although not always the full meal).