25 memes about the hellish ordeal that is feeding our kids

Every day at around 4 pm a chill runs through my body. No, my house isn't drafty and I'm not having yet another round of anxiety-induced phantom COVID symptoms. It's the time of day when I have to start planning my children's dinner—one that may ultimately wind up rejected and strewn on the kitchen floor.

Bedtime can be brutal, but mealtime is far more demoralizing as far as I'm concerned. Spending an hour preparing a meal of all your kid's favourite things, with veggies cut into cute shapes (no, I'm not usually that mom), only to have it thrown back in your face cuts deep. How could I not have known he no longer loves all his favourite foods? Mom fail.

All parents know the whirlwind of emotions that is mealtime. Naturally it lends itself to some highly relatable memes, some of which will leave you laughing out loud. Here are 25 of our faves, we hope they nourish your soul.

There’s crying.

There’s sobbing. Then there’s having to meal plan for the week. — Satirical Mommy (@MommySatirical) March 15, 2021

My kid threatened to hold her breath until I gave her dessert. She's now passed out on the kitchen floor. I don't negotiate with terrorists.

— Tim (@Playing_Dad) January 10, 2013

If persuading my kids to eat the dinner I cook every night doesn't count as sales experience, I don't know what does.

— MamaFizzles (@MamaFizzles) June 27, 2017

3: Mommy, I don’t want dinner!!

Me: I’m not making dinner, I’m making you a big snack 3: Yay! Snacks! — kids_kubed (@Kids_kubed) October 1, 2020

Wish I was as brave as my kid who just ate zero bites of her dinner and then asked my wife for a snack 6 minutes after the table was clear.

— Simon Holland (@simoncholland) September 15, 2015

Thanks to Covid, traveling to the grocery store is now an exotic vacation

— Satirical Mommy (@MommySatirical) March 13, 2021