We've been childless for more than a week.  It's been unnaturally quiet, clean and food isn't randomly disappearing at disturbing rates.  I'm also a little lost.  No one has been in to wake me in the mornings.  No phone calls through the day to let me know that Minion #1 is being a pest. I can actually get things accomplished without stopping at least half a dozen times to find something or intervene in a brotherly squabble.

It's really, really nice to have had some adult time.  I got to play catch up on some housework, got a few little projects accomplished without 'help' and didn't have to listen to whining about when dinner would be ready or how it wasn't what they wanted.  Which is really one of the only things that my minions do that actually bothers me.  Yes, I dislike that they leave their dirty socks in the living room, and wet towels on the bathroom floor.  But, those are a dislike, not a that hurts me to the soul sort of thing they way the food is.

I spend a good portion of my week and days planning menus and making food that contains things that everyone likes and that won't make me sick.  It's not as easy sometimes as you'd think.  So while I do keep in mind that minion #1 has autism and lying about how good something is really is beyond him.  It does stab me a little when one or both minions refuse to eat something because it's new and they've already decided they won't eat it and won't like it.

We don't make two dinners around here.  Not anymore.  I used to.  A lot.  In fact, some nights I was making three and sometimes four dinners.  I just don't have the energy for it, and honestly it's rather silly.  So now we just have a rule.  You don't have to like it, but you do have to try it.  If you refuse, you go to bed, there is no compromise, and I'm trying to stop caring about them going to bed hungry.

I'm sure the rest of you struggle with the same sorts of things.  What rules do you have to get your minions to try new things, or just eat what you've made with minimal fuss?