Gino D'Acampo blasts 'moron' parents that don't send fussy eaters to bed hungry

15 December 2021, 08:37

By Alice Dear

Chef Gino D'Acampo has opened up about his 'strict' parenting style with his three kids.

Gino D'Acampo, 45, has branded parents that don't send their fussy kids to bed hungry when they refuse to eat their meal 'morons' in a controversial new interview about parenting.

The This Morning chef, who has three children with his wife Jessica Morrison – Luciano, 19, Rocco, 16, Mia, 10 – admitted on the Netmum's podcast Sweat, Snot & Tears that he is a "strict" dad and that while he believes there is "no such thing as a fussy child", there "is a thing of moron parenting."

He used his youngest, Mia, in an example, explaining that if one evening she wasn't eating her dinner she would go to bed hungry and when she woke up for breakfast she would be served the same dinner from the night before.

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Talking to Netmums editors Annie O'Leary and Wendy Golledge, he said: "I'm a very strict dad, there are a lot of rules in my house. I run a house with rules, probably because I worked in restaurants for many years.

"For me in the restaurants, it's always been about following the rules, keeping the restaurant clean - and it's the same thing with the house, I hate when it is messy."

He went on to speak about dealing with fussy eaters, explaining: "There is no such thing as a fussy child, there is a thing of moron parenting.

"It's the parents that can't be bothered to fight, to have an argument at the table or to see their children go to bed without having any food."

He went on: "If Mia would be at the table and not eating anything, of course I say, 'If you're not hungry, not eating your ravioli, you can't eat anything'.

"She will go to bed without food - and tomorrow morning, instead of cornflakes, guess what she is going to find on the table? The same ravioli that was there."

Replying to the podcast hosts' shock, Gino replied: "You only have to do it once. Of course they will eat it

"Most of the time when kids are misbehaving, it's pretty much our fault, we can't be bothered to have the fight," Gino concluded. "I can, and they know that."