the cereal standoff

so the boy has graduated from the smaller bowls to regular size cereal bowls, the problem is he FILLS the bowl & then throws half of it away.  there is no pour 1/2 to 3/4 of a bowl & if he's still hungry pour more, no, no, no, it's all or none, don't want to waste that bowl space.

he's overfilled the bowl repeatedly & we have not been able to figure out a way to get him stop; no talk, no reasoning, no threats, nada.  finally one day i told him if he poured that much & put milk on it, he'd better eat it all, he continued on with is bowl of shredded wheat & so the day began.

he said he would eat it, but i knew it was too much.  i told him to put it in the fridge to keep in cold & to not let it sit very long bc the longer it sat the worse it would be.  i thought in an hour or so he would eat it, but he didn't.  lunch time came & went, the cereal was not eaten.  the day continued & it was time to get ready for a cub scout meeting but i told him he had to eat before we went, eat the cereal.  i was not going to let him gorge on snacks & treats without eating that darn bowl of cereal.

he refused, we didn't go to the meeting & the battle of the wills continued...
even B was impressed i hadn't folded by this time.

a couple of hours later he brought out the bowl, he tasted it & said it was gross.  surprise.  it took some time, but he did finally eat it.  i felt bad, but the line had been drawn in the sand & i had to stand my ground with him.  i know it seems harsh & ridiculous to have to do things this way, but honestly it made a difference.  he's gotten better with listening to me & he's definitely more mindful about wasting food.