Would you send your child to bed hungry? This radio-host mum did...
'You have to teach a lesson: if you don’t eat your dinner, you go to bed hungry'. Fair enough – or not?
Oooh, blimey, this one's got us talking today ?
Australian radio host Jackie O has copped some flack for admitting she sent her daughter, Kitty, aged 6, to bed without eating anything after she refused dinner.
Jackie's co-host, Kyle Sandilands, heard a clip of Jackie's daughter asking for some food before bed as she was really hungry, and Jackie telling her, “Well, you had your chance to eat your dinner – and you didn’t.”
"Oh, I’m starving," Kitty responds.
"You can eat in the morning,” Jackie replies.
"I’m going to cry," says Kitty.
"No. You’ve washed your teeth and that’s it," says her mum.
Then comes a wail from Kitty...
(Listen to the clip here)
Jackie's work colleague Kyle is not impressed at all and asks Jackie, "How can you have that cute child lying there making the sounds of a seal? She’s obviously very distressed… The kid’s desperate for food."
But others, on Twitter, were totally in support of Jackie's actions.
"Jackie is educating her child. Kitty will benefit from not getting everything she asks for. Too many kids are spoilt!" one fan tweeted.
"Jackie, you did the right thing. No child should.... get what they want when they haven’t eaten their main meal," said another.
Here at MFM HQ, we were torn...
One of us says she'd feel awful but would still follow through and say no food if you haven't eaten dinner, just like Jackie.
Another said she gets this situ 3 out of 5 nights at the moment with her 5-year-old, and makes sure she saves dinner in case her daughter says she wants it in the middle of story time – or at the very least gives her a snack if she says she's hungry (even if she didn't eat dinner). She just doesn't think it's right to make a child lie in bed hungry.
What do you think?
Would you let your child have a snack if he or she didn't eat dinner? Or do you agree with Jackie's tough love stance? Tell us in the comments below or over on Facebook
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Authors
Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015
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