Mom lets 5-year-old son make his own dinner, goes better than expected

A man on Reddit has shared a picture showing what happened when his 5-year-old brother was allowed to make his own dinner.

When it comes to ensuring our kids eat a full serving for each meal, dinner has often proven the most problematic.

A random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 U.S. parents of school-age kids (ages 5–17) conducted by OnePoll in 2023 on behalf of Veggies Made Great, revealed that 18 percent of respondents said their kids were eating a full serving of dinner.

By comparison, 37 percent of parents said their children finished the entirety of their lunch while 25 percent said their kids tended to finish all of their breakfast.

It certainly proved difficult for Abdullah Naveed’s family and his 5-year-old brother. However, his younger sibling came up with a unique solution.

Naveed, 19, from Lahore in Pakistan told Newsweek that his brother had been “squabbling” with his mom about his dinner and, more specifically, was “refusing to eat his rice.”

“Eventually she got fed up and told him to eat whatever he wanted,” he said.

The resulting dinner was pictured in the post Naveed shared to Reddit earlier this month under the handle Abdu11ah_naveed. “My mom let my 5-year old brother make his own meal today,” the accompanying caption explained.

But while some may have been expecting a candy-laden free-for-all, the results proved somewhat surprising.

It featured an eclectic mix to say the least: a handful of cheeseballs, some seeds, a few raisins and dates and, for dessert, a paper cupcake container full of sprinkles.

At the time of writing, Naveed’s post has been upvoted 20,000 times with many Reddit users praising his younger brother’s efforts.

“Honestly, not bad at all for a 5 year old,” one user commented.

“I was gonna say, this is (very slightly) more well-rounded than I see some adults eat,” a second wrote.

A third added: “There’s a lot of kids his age who refuse any fruit or veggies. I wouldn’t have the kid eat this every day but once in a while shouldn’t be too bad.”

Naveed, for his part, was quietly impressed at his brother’s choices.

“He played it smart, knowing she’d appreciate a healthy choice and that’s where the raisins and dates come in,” he told Newsweek. “I like to think he used every bit of his tiny brainpower to craft his own version of a three-course meal.”

Naveed said his brother made sure to incorporate some of his favorite foods, though had to improvise with what they had in a few places.

“He’s got a special love for cheeseballs so he made sure to add them as the savory part of his meal,” he said. “For dessert after looking around for a bit he settled on plain sprinkles. To keep things looking neat he put the sprinkles in a little stray cupcake mould he found in a kitchen drawer before adding them to his plate.”

Ultimately, his mom seems to have been quietly impressed too. She let him eat most of the meal he made and he finished it all, save for one notable exception.

“He loved it,” Naveed said. “After all he chose it himself. He ate it all except for the sprinkles which my mom took away after he finished half [because] of too much sugar.”