Originally Posted by JBord

Generally true for my childhood as well. But did you never get exceptions? There were occasions where my parents knew I or my siblings really didn't like something they wanted for dinner and we might get a frozen pizza or fish sticks, etc. Not a lot of extra work really. If we had chicken, potatoes, and green beans I might have been stuck at the table until I ate my portion of beans. But if my parents wanted beets (which would literally make me gag as a child and I still don't like), we would have had another vegetable with it or I wouldn't have been required to eat the beets. Also, and I know this sounds insane, I didn't enjoy steak when I was a kid, probably because it was usually overcooked. My parents were happy to save money and make a Tombstone pizza when I didn't want steak.

I think there's a balance to be had. Some exceptions but not every meal becomes an exception. But I'm also not qualified to critique anyone, since I don't have any children myself.