Good vs. Bad

I have two very different children when it comes to eating. My little girl will eat everything (really!). I have yet to see her spit anything out. I’m the one that has to dig the things she isn’t supposed to have out (woodchips, rocks, bugs, etc.). My son, on the other hand, won’t eat hardly anything. The only things I can get him to eat without having to force feed him are chicken nuggets (and sometimes that’s a stretch), cereal, chips/crackers, and of course goodies.

My son’s automatic response to any food offering is generally a resounding “NO!”. I’ve been able to at least change that to a “No, thank you,” recently. It’s a lot easier to listen to, but it’s still irritating that he won’t accept food. When we offer things that he knows he likes he will eventually think about it a little and ask for it.

Tonight his choice was to
A. Eat Spaghetti or
B. Go to Bed.

After throwing a fit for 30 minutes, I decided for him and put him in his room. I told him he could come back out if he was going to eat his spaghetti. He’s come out a couple of times claiming he was ready, but in the end has just cried, gagged, and ended up back in his room.

I’m ready for help. I’m planning on doing a lot of research on different parenting sites, but I’m also interested in learning what has worked for you. I am one that in the past has said that it was okay for him to be picky, he’d grow out of it, he’s still a healthy kid and I can give him a vitamin to fill in the gaps, if he isn’t hungry he must be okay, it’s not worth it if he is going to make himself puke over it, etc. Let me know your opinion please (in a nice way). I kind of feel like I’m doing everything wrong when it comes to mealtime. If I follow one person’s advice I feel like I’m going against another’s.

Feeding the Picky Eater: 17 Tips
When Your Toddler Doesn’t Want to Eat

Addition later:
So I kind of gave in. I knew he was hungry and I wasn’t going to give him milk unless he ate something good (he tends to get full on milk and not be hungry). I told him he could eat some chicken if he’d like. He said yes. So I dished his plate up with a handful of popcorn chicken, a couple spoonfuls of mandarin oranges, and some of the spaghetti. He still won’t touch the spaghetti, but he ate the chicken and oranges.