Fussy Freddy: A lesson in how not to manage fussy eaters

Fussy Freddy – a lesson in how not to manage fussy eaters

I got to know this dad quite well, not because he was special but because he was ordinary – and he had a problem with his son!

Fussy Freddy wasn't a good eater.

At best he was a little fussy and at lunch there was just too much to do to stop and eat.

Mum and dad knew "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" but Freddy knew he hated apples, especially the floury red ones which he said gave him a tummy ache. In frustration dad said that every day fussy freddy ate his apple he would get 20c. Freddy was not lacking in grey matter and soon figured out he could get 20c just for dumping his Delicious apple in the bin.

When one of his good friends “dobbed” on him dad decided that he would pay by the scalp; Freddy got 20c for each core returned to base.

Being a boy of some ingenuity it didn't take our apple avoider long to work out that he could still pocket 15c. per apple by paying 5c to a fruit fiend friend to eat it for him.

When this game was caught out Freddy just went back to eating no apples again.

In desperation dad did what we often do when we're stuck for answers, his anger got the better of him.

Dad threatened to give Freddy one swipe with his belt on the backside for any uneaten apples.

A few weeks later when dad detected an alcoholic stench coming from the direction of Freddy's bag, he checked and found nine uneaten apples. Dad was determined to follow through on his threat.

Freddy is now 30 and still hasn't forgiven dad for the thrashing and still can't eat red apples. Dad still remembers crying with each swipe.

* If only dad hadn't tried to enforce something he couldn't police

* If only dad had consulted some nutrition chart to see that there were dozens of nutritious alternatives to red apples

* If only dad had tried even green apples

* If only dad hadn't become obsessed with the idea that the kid's survival hung off an apple tree

* If only dad hadn't made threats which he either had to back off and look weak or enforce and feel weak

* If only mum and dad had taken a few notes on what he really ate in a day - they would have found more variety and nutrition than most of us realize kids have.

Freddy had well and truly become the apple in dad's eye. If only dad had remembered the old saying that "one man's meat (or apple) is another man's poison!

And how do I know all this? Because that boy is now 6’3”, he’s a fearless footballer, he’s my electrician and… he works for his dad!