His Son Is No Longer Allowed At Family Dinners Because Of How Picky He Is
This man has a nine-year-old son who has an avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, also known as ARFID.
Children with ARFID are known to be extremely picky eaters who only eat a limited variety of meals. And unfortunately, this can have severe impacts on their growth and nutrition.
His son, in particular, has been working with a slew of therapists in various areas. But, battling ARFID is a slow process, and his son still has very few “safe foods.” Plus, the foods that his son is able to eat are mostly highly processed “junk food.”
“He used to have more safe foods. But, when they change or taste different, he will no longer eat it,” he explained.
“He ate one sour grape seven years ago and still cries at the thought of eating another. It’s bad.”
Well, recently, his son did reach one major milestone. His son is now able to eat out in public again and is ecstatic about it. They have mostly eaten at McDonald’s so far, but it is still a public place nonetheless.
Plus, this milestone meant that his son could rejoin their family dinners. For context, he, his wife, and his son would always attend family dinners with his wife’s extended family.
The dinners were a regular event and happened a few times each month. But, after he realized that eating in groups was making his son worse, they decided to stop going.
Now, though, his son was ready to get back to eating with the family. So, his wife decided to call her sister and ask if they could rejoin the family dinners again.
bernardbodo – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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“Maybe just once a month to build his confidence first,” he added.
And at first, his sister-in-law was all for it. However, after his wife clarified that she would be bringing special food for his son, his sister-in-law started to backtrack. Then, she actually just said they could not attend at all.
Apparently, his sister-in-law claimed that it was unfair for the other kids to watch his son “snacking on junk food” while they had to eat so-called “proper meals.”
Honestly, though, he totally understood that point. Nonetheless, he also pointed out how the youngest child in their extended family is eight-years-old.
So, he suggested that he just explain his son’s additional needs to his nieces and nephews.
At that point, though, his wife got pretty upset and left him to handle his sister-in-law on the phone.
“So, I told my sister-in-law straight-up that this was not my son being treated any better. It was a serious medical situation, and it wouldn’t be that hard to explain to the rest of the children that he has a different diet from them,” he said.
Regardless, though, his sister-in-law did not understand his perspective. Instead, she actually just got really agitated and claimed that her kids should not have to be forced to watch his son eat “nicer food.”
He understandably got pretty upset after hearing that comment and ended up telling his sister-in-law that his son should not be forced to miss out on family dinners because of the food he eats.
At that point, though, his sister-in-law was apparently done with the conversation and actually hung up on him.
However, she did not hesitate to text his wife later– calling him rude and claiming that he refused to take no for an answer.
And shockingly, his wife is kind of upset with him now, too. Apparently, his wife thinks that he should have just accepted his sister-in-law’s wishes instead of pushing to go where their son is not wanted.
So, even though he thinks his son is deserving of the same experiences as everyone else, his wife’s annoyance has started to bug him.
In turn, he has been left wondering if trying to get his son back into the family dinners was the wrong thing to do.
Do you think he had a right to stand up for his son? Why do you think his sister-in-law was unwilling to work with him on this? What would you have done in his shoes?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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