In any case, it doesn’t matter a whit if the average is one meltdown if your kid has gone without two consecutive meals. All this theorising goes out the window when the third meal is coming up and you’re struggling to get a morsel inside your kid. How many consecutive meals are you willing to let your kid skip on principle?

Comparing what we did in the past, how we lived in the past, what worked two decades ago is basically useless.

Phones exist. On demand entertainment exists. Kids know it. You know it. You aren’t putting any genie back in the bottle by trying to explain to your kid that since you grew up without being amused into eating, they need to do that too.