Evening of Day 6.
We had our evening meal, which was, pork with a creamy tomato stroganoff over egg noodles. I liked it, as did most of the family.
Our youngest, David, took one look at it and said “I don’t like chicken.”
“Never made this dish before, and it isn’t chicken. Taste it, ” was my response.
In the end, he didn’t eat anything except noodles. How can we get him to not force himself to gag every time we try a new dish? He isn’t lactose intolerant, and doesn’t have any food allergies that we know of. But, put something in front of him that he doesn’t even want to try; you can feed it to him, and he still won’t eat it.
Keep in mind, he has facets of Autism, OCD, ODD, severe ADHD, pediatric bi-polar and conduct disorder.
The rest of the day has been a conglomeration of negotiations and refusals. I am working on following the 1-2-3 Magic doctrine of discipline. One thing to be clear of is, we do not do “Power Struggles” we don’t practice a battle of wills. It is counter-productive with David. He can be obstinate enough to never give in, and will make himself physically ill in the process.
Don’t get me wrong, he is a joy to have back at home. All be it, a frustrating joy at times, but a joy none the less. On a positive note, we gave him a chore to complete, and he did it without complaint. His job was to sweep the stairs using a hand broom, which he seemed to enjoy doing. So tomorrow will find another “little chore” for him to do, and we will try that everyday to see how he responds. We aren’t looking for a permanent slave. But if chores are a way to reward him for positive behaviour or with positive attention, then that is what we need to do.
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