This is a cry for help!!! I know i'm not the only one out there. When ever we go round friends house or see parents out eating with their toddler its the same story total and utter refusal to eat food or picking slowly by the little darlings sitting round the table. I don't mean the darlings that are a few months old and are weaning because these little darling will tend to eat anything you shovel into their mouths even if they love to throw it about a bit and re decorate your home in tomato sauce or apple puree. I mean the little darlings that are in the 2 - 3 year old range that have now developed their own opinion of what dinner time should be about and when and what they eat. Oh there are times when i could just get so mad with Sophie, and i feel like pinning her down and force feeding her the dinner i lovingly prepared for her.
We are at a stage that dinner time can takes over 2 hours to get through with a tag team of mummy and daddy constantly repeating "Put food in your mouth" " "Stay in your chair" "Stop that and eat"
She totally complains that she is hungry, and then when the food comes we go through a pantomime of her hopping off her chair to dance, sing, go to the toilet anything other than eat her food. All her snacking has been stopped but still the charades continues.
Today was a good example it is swim night so i deliberately did dinner early and cooked her favorite so she had enough time to get through eating and we as a family had time to swim before bed time. 2 hours 30 mins later both of us are still going through the pa lava of eat your food. To a point that the treat of going swimming has now been remove, followed by huge tears and demands to go swimming, and half a plate of food left.
We have done the if you haven't eaten you food you can just stave thing but this ends up giving poor mummy and daddy more stress and pain as what little evening is now ruined as the refusal to go to bed because she is so hungry, only giving us a work out as we run up and down the stairs which ruins the night.
If you have any tips for good table manners, getting that dinner into little mouths in a timely fashion or stories for kids this age that you have written about and are archived in your blog that you could share to help me or any other mummy out there suffering from or with the same problem. you can place these below in either the comment section or my FIRST ever link up party. Don't forget to grab my Good life Lounge Button.
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They sure know how to push our buttons don't they! Never had a problem with Splosh, but Bernard could be a picky eater. My only advice is not to fight with her about it - she wants the battle. Offer her dinner, if she doesn't want it - fair enough, take it away, but she has to sit at the table whilst you eat. Ignore her and continue with dinner conversation. The theory is that she will feel left out and want to take part. Coll, calm and collected is the way to go! Not always easy to do, but better for all in the long run! Good luck and deep breaths! x x
ReplyDeletelol thanks Mary she is such a little bugger it must be a stage she is going through called i have the power !!
DeleteAwww... But that face! :D One day you can get your own back with that picture! Definitely a control thing. I remember the Six year old doing similar. Didn't like it so much when his sister got his pudding as well a few times! :D
ReplyDeleteYes it is a bit odd that when its pudding time we dont have the same problem, not that she gets a pudding if she doesnt finish her dinner
ReplyDeletereminds me that we convinced the children that their 'pudding tummy' was magic and only came into existence if their 'dinner tummy' was full enough. I had to squeeze their belly a little to see if I could feel their pudding tummy - tee hee!
DeleteJust told Bernard this conversation and she is laughing at remembering it all!
Oh i MUST try this that is such a good idea love the magic of Pudding Tummy
DeleteI hope Sophie is soon through this phase. I agree it is a control thing, so the less attention they get.... setting a time limit for meals to be eaten - say 20 minutes and then just take away the plate of food in a neutral way
ReplyDeleteAs the weeks go by i am starting to think she is just a slow eater. Daddy has taken the tactic of fighting her for her food and she is interested in the food as she doesnt want him to have it. Lets hope it is a phase..
ReplyDelete