[FSUZeta]

our very wise pediatrician once told me that she had yet to see a child who would voluntarily starve her/himself to death. this after i was concerned when one of my children did not want to stop whatever activity he/she was engaged in and sit down to eat.

we always asked our daughter and son to give everything a try-just one bite. they have never been picky eaters, and i am so grateful for that. i also think that it makes life easier for them.

when they were little they were both diagnosed with multiple food allergies-which effected them mainly histimically. we did our best to avoid those foods-chocolate was a big no-no. i would take along a vanilla cupcake to birthday parties when i knew that the hostess was serving chocolate cake. of course, my kids would have rather had the chocolate(and i can't blame them!) but they ate the vanilla. luckily, chocolate seems to no longer bother them.

the same goes for your nieces and nephews. if they get hungry enough, they will find something that they will eat. when my children had friends over and the friends did not like what i had cooked, they were invited to make themselves a sandwich-themselves(of course, these were school aged children). your nieces and nephews are of the age where they are capable of making a sandwich. i think it is time to quit catering to their ridiculous whims.