I am right there with you. I used to make a nice dinner that I thought would appeal to everyone. Chicken couscous is a great example. It has little bits of chicken breast that I saute, cut into pieces and then stir into the instant couscous that has tiny bits of onion, fresh cilantro, dried cherries and raisins in it. It has a really good flavor. Gator wont' eat it if I marinade the chicken in jerk seasoning first. Cha Cha will eat his usual amount which is about the same as grazing, then 2 hours later ask for a snack (healthy snack at least, but way too soon after dinner), Greenbean will only eat the couscous, Sisi only picks out the raisins. Everyone comes away hungry (except me and DH). And this is on a good night. Most nights 3 our of 4 of them will refuse to eat what I make at all.
And I'm sorry, but I can't send them to bed hungry. Because at the end of the day, I'm tired. I'm EXHAUSTED. And 4 hungry, ornery, wound up kids is just more than i can handle. So, I feed them the healthiest version of what they will eat. Corn dogs. Hotdogs. Grilled cheese. Then we all come away full and in better moods.
I've given up (hanging head in shame).
" I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." Mahatma Gandhi
"This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn't solve any problems." Martin Luther King, Jr.