Tonight is the same as every other night. One hour after sitting down for dinner, my 5 year old girl is still eating. We sat down at 6pm for dinner, at 745pm she is finally finished eating. I don't give her much food on her plate,it just takes her forever to eat. From throwing a tantrum, to food being too spicy (no spice, sometimes not even salt/pepper) there is a never ending amount of excuses for her to not eat. She will have a small snack for afternoon tea, and drinks are kept for after meals so she doesn't fill up on water. If I take her meal away, she tells me she is hungry 5 minutes later. If I leave her at the table alone, she just plays with her food. Someone needs to sit with her to continuously tell her to sit down, pick up her fork, or tell her to lean over her plate so food doesn't land on the floor. Desert is only a reward if she eats all her dinner relatively quickly, and then the ice cream is devoured instantly. She sometimes does this at other meals, but mostly dinner.
So my question is, is this normal childhood behaviour to just test my patience? Do you have any ideas on how I can make meal time a less draining e percent e for all in the house?
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2 Replies
It's a phase! I've been through this with my son, and my sister is going through it with her daughter now. Continue to be consistent and it will eventually pass. I'm pretty sure I did this too my parents too.
I'd keep food servings really small (even smaller than they are now, you can increase the size when she gathers more positive momentum). Offer praise for eating. I would make sure she knows what she will miss out on if she doesn't get her meal done, and when you've all finished eating go do it, leaving her at the table!
Maybe she enjoys the attention she is getting for fussing over dinner. Sometimes we get so caught up in day to day chores that we forget to spend a little bit of time just giving them some positive attention. Maybe straight after she finishes dinner you could go to her room and play dolls for 20 minutes. While dad does the dishes (take turns). Or Make getting through dinner fun by asking questions about where her food comes from or how it grows ect. Or maybe let her help to cook part of the meal. This happens to me when I am only focusing on getting "stuff" done. We can't be switched on all day every day but if dinner time is the time she craves the attention then it might help to give her something to look forward too after dinner. Besides desserts, which can be counter productive just before bed.