My SS refused to eat tea the other night because I cooked it and not daddy. He ate a little but my partner had to feed it to him. He's 3.5 and can feed himself. I felt like it was just an attention thing. Mind you he hasn't been putting on any weight and he's BM isn't concerned as he hasnt lost any. I just try and bribe him by offer him something he really likes if it eats some. If he's not sure if he likes something I try and convince him to try it and if he doesn't like it to put it to the side. He normally flat out refuses. Meal times are definitely tricky!!

SS refused to eat once, I guess it annoyed DH because he reheated the macaroni for dinner, he didn't eat it, DH reheated it for breakfast, then lunch.....it was inedible by then so I made fresh macaroni but still macaroni and finally SS gave in.....he ate the macaroni....the kid will eat when he gets hungry enough.

He won't starve.

We have custody of ss's and we had the same problem. If they started whining that they didn't like their meal and wanted something else, they were told that was it, take it or leave it and there would be no dessert and nothing else till next mealtime. If they had a tantrum over it (which they often did), they were further punished by being sent to bed early and/or having toys/tv time taken away. There were lots of tantrums and wasted meals, but in the end they learned there was no point carrying on and now eat just about everything put in front of them. When they stay with BM, she feeds them junk and panders to their every whim and they still have tantrums for her because she lets them get away with it. You have to be very firm and never give in to whining, and as the other posters have said, the kid won't starve and will eventually eat when he's hungry.

Keep putting good healthy food in front of him. That's all you need to do to fulfill your end of the bargain (to feed him). I fight this battle with BD5 all the time, and DH knows better (most of the time) than to intervene. BD5 is terrible about eating fresh fruits and vegetables. I pack her school lunch most days, and anything she doesn't eat gets returned to the lunch box. At the end of the day, when I pick her up from school, I check. If anything is left, THAT is what she eats as an afternoon snack. If she refuses, she waits until dinner. Yesterday BD5 ate her ham and cheese sandwich and cottage cheese but left her apples and carrots. I told her she could have one or the other for a snack but she refused, so she got nothing until dinner. If she wants to be picky, she can be picky and hungry.