My kid refuses dinner, then asks for snacks an hour later. What do I do?

This is one of the most common picky-eater loops, and it isn't defiance — your kid has learned that skipping dinner costs nothing, because the Goldfish show up at 7:30 anyway.

Two changes break the loop without a fight. First, put dinner and the bedtime snack on a schedule and close the kitchen in between — not as a punishment, just "kitchen's closed, snack is at 7." Kids adapt to the rhythm fast when it's boring and predictable. Second, take the pressure off dinner itself by always including one thing you know they'll eat (bread, the fruit they like, plain pasta). They can fill up on that; no lectures, no "three more bites."

What keeps the loop alive is the dinner battle followed by a better offer. Make dinner the easier option and the snack a scheduled non-event, and the 8pm negotiation usually fades within a couple of weeks.