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.

If the child has that much control (dictating what (s)he will eat at family meal is just a start) over his parents, how much more control will (s)he have when of mature age. I find the coddling of children has resulted in so many other issues today that weren't there 20 to 30 years ago. If I were to spank my child due to misbehavior in public, I would probably have the cops called on me for child abuse, but that was the way I was raised, and I turned out fine.

I don't think it necessarily means that there is no other discipline in the household. Maybe there is or maybe not.
But to your general point, I agree there is an overall lack of discipline for children today that was not the case when I was a child. A child getting what they want for dinner seems pretty mild in comparison to some of the other things I see. Not wanting to venture into OMNI territory, I'll simply suggest that we're already seeing the results of the lack of discipline in some adult generations today. Meals may (or may not) be an indicator, but it's a much bigger issue than just meals.

Very true about effects of children who have never heard the word no & expect to be indulged in real life when they are adults .
The controversy here seems to be allowing a child to randomly dictate what the parents are "allowed " to eat in their own home.
In addition I worry about meeting the nutritional needs of a growing kid when a kid is allowed to make all of their own food choices. Presumably the parents know more about healthy eating habits & would insist that children eat healthy & well balanced meals the majority of the time with items like fries, cheeseburgers etc allowed as more of an occasional treat.

My two permitted exceptions were when mom made either tongue or liver. Then, Mrs. Swanson would come over and lift her foil for me.

As for the regularly-scheduled programming, last night was leftover saw tayed mushrooms/kale/onions mix with some spicy snausages cut in, place same in a flower tor teeya, add some tomate, palta, and ají, and wrap it. So burrito-like

I didn't care for most fish and with my allergies, shellfish was a concern for many years, so if we were having fish, I usually had a grilled cheese sandwich or some such, but that was a rare occasion.

The only time my brother and I were allowed to request an alternate meal was when my parents had shrimp which neither of us particularly liked. I am convinced that my parents gave us this one freebie to object because it was cheaper not to feed us shrimp! :-) These days, we both love shrimp.

For the most part, I have outgrown most of my food dislikes. I still avoid mashed potatoes and lima beans when setting my own menu, but there are a ton of things I never used to eat that I now do. These include raw tomatoes, broccoli, peas, and cauliflower. (And for the record, if I am served mashed potatoes or lima beans I will absolutely eat them.) I was amused one day when a friend handed me her phone and asked me to update my contact information -- saved in my contact info was a note to not serve me mashed potatoes if I'm invited over for dinner.

That may be why my parents allowed me to skip seafood. It was much cheaper to serve a grilled cheese sandwich to me than seafood.

I will never understand this...never.
Of course, once in a while when my parents had liver or fish I could have something else & yes it was probably fish sticks with tons of ketchup. I can probably count on 2 hands the number of times my parents got fast food for me. Even things like take out pizza was a rare treat. I did love a good Swanson TV dinner though...especially when they started putting that little square of dessert in there (otherwise no dessert in my house). It was a sore spot with my mom because she was a good cook and made everything from scratch and yet I was excited to get a TV dinner.

Still don't feel like cooking so trying to decide what to get delivered. We were lucky enough not to lose our taste or smell but still don't have much appetite.

My mother wouldn't make something special for us but if we had tried it previously and didn't like it we didn't have to eat it. She did take into account certain preferences when deciding the menu like if the night before was something my brother absolutely hated, she would try to choose something he liked for dinner the next night. Also if we didn't eat our dinner we didn't get a snack later. By the time we were 8 and 11 my brother and I regularly cooked at least one meal a week, which meant we got to choose the menu that night.

I’m laughing at some of the responses here. I grew up in a household with a mother of Jamaican background. Suggest that I wasn’t going to eat what was placed in front of me? Not a chance! And that included the 2 foods that I detest to this day. Okra (boiled or steamed) and beets (red dirt). With my wife, things were a little different. In her household, it was every man or woman for themselves. On one of our first dates, I was over her house. She asked me if I wanted a tuna sandwich. (I know, very romantic). Lo and behold, she strolled over to her locked bedroom closet, and pulled out a can. A few dates later I peeked inside. My girl had Vienna sausages, cans of soup, instant coffee, etc in there.
Fortunately that lifestyle never made it into our marriage!

This seems perfectly acceptable to me, and pretty similar to how things operated in our family. I rarely cooked dinner, but my Dad went to work really early and my Mom liked to sleep in, which I realize sounds weird in current times. So by the time I was about 8, I would make breakfast for my brother and myself during the week, as we had to be on the school bus right around 7 am. Usually it was just cereal or toast, but probably once a week I made eggs or oatmeal. In fact, in some ways I guess I did choose what I ate for breakfast and lunch pretty much every day since I was that age. Dinner was the one meal where I was sometimes forced to eat something I didn't like.

Tonight - Buffalo chicken wraps. Tomorrow I'm going to try to fashion the leftover chuck roast into tacos.

For chgoeditor and others in the area, have you tried the One Off Hospitality (Paul Kahan) subscriptions? Basically you get a full meal for 2 people one day a week for 3 weeks, requires reheating. We found one that delivers to a drop off point in Highland Park for the next 3 weeks (Avec, Publican Quality Meats, Big Star) for $140 total, before tax and other charges. This one was Wednesday nights - decided to give it a try to make weeknights a little more interesting during freezing February.

I've been contemplating it since they first introduced it and have heard great things...I think we're going to pull the trigger for February!

Evil foods...especially the okra.
Ok--that is hilarious about your wife. Everyone kept their own food in their own bedroom closet under lock & key? :D

Big relief about taste! It’s interesting about the low appetite!