#AskDad: My Ex Always Criticizes What I Feed Our Kid!

Dear Ask Dad, my ex-husband is a nutritionist; he is a holistic nutritionist at that. He insists that I
feed our son according to his standard and has no care for how I want to do it. He insists that I don’t
know anything about food and he presumes that I give our child candy and donuts all day. It is so frustrating
and annoying and I’m sick of him bullying me. I need some help dealing with a stubborn man and his
veggies.

Dear Veggie Vicki,
I have two points to make and I am making them in this order because I believe in doing what is best for
the child first and foremost, so please don’t think I am taking anyone’s side.

Point 1 – Your ex has a chosen profession that can assist your son in his health and wellness and the
foundation for such can last all the days of his life. He may have a point. I find that a lot of nutritionists
are a lot like people who do cross-fit… they never, ever, ever stop talking about it! They are almost obsessed with the fact that our food is ‘killing’ us. My advice to you is to take a few nuggets of what he is saying that would be helpful to your son and incorporate them into his diet.

Point 2 – Tell him to back off and keep his nose out of your business. It seems from the tone of your
letter that you are completely fed up, and you have every right to be. Every time he lectures you about
what you feed the child he crosses a line, and when you use a word like “bullying” it leads me to believe
that he is both forceful and frequent. He may be right about the diet but telling you how to run your
own home is ridiculous. Tell him to back off and that you’re not interested in anything that he has to
say. If he continues, berate you, set stricter boundaries. He’ll have to learn he can’t control everything
about his son 24 hours a day, especially when he is in the care of his mother.