Did I handle this right and what do you do about a 2 yr old who won't eat?

misses625

My son is going through this phase where he refuses to eat any meal at the table with us.  He wants to sit on the couch and either play with his toys or watch cartoons while he eats.  We don't do that.  However, he outright refuses to eat at the table.  He will scream and throw a fit.  Every meal time that rolls around I think "oh great, time for this again."  This has been going on for a couple of weeks.  We tell him he can either eat with us or sit in time out, and then he won't get anything else.  He always wants to sit in time out. 

So, tonight he told me he wanted a hot dog for dinner, so that's what I made.  He sat at the table for two seconds, said "I don't want that hot dog."  He pushed his plate away so hard that all his food went flying.  I put him in time out and he didn't get anything else the rest of the night even though he kept asking for crackers and stuff. 

I don't know what to do!  I am NOT giving in to him!
 

Aliliv

I watched an episode of The Doctors once where Dr. Sears was addressing a problem similar to this.  His recommendation was basically was to dish up and eat and leave the kids plate empty and ignore the child until he/she came and started asking for stuff.    He said that they catch on pretty quick.  I do ignore DD when she acts like this and she usually comes around (unless she really isn't hungry).  I think what you did is fine.  If we always give in then our kids will be living on crackers and cheese (and for my DD cookies).

buffalo_buckeye

D went through this phase as well. We basically ignored him and went on eating w/o him. He almost always came to the table as long as we were serving 1 thing he liked (rest of the meal is what we eat). Also I started limiting snacks in the afternoon. He is excited to eat when he is hungry, and will stay at the table longer and eat more of everything. I think at this point it is a power struggle of either them deciding when to eat vs you telling him. Sometimes I will lure him to the table with "do you want daddy to eat your dinner?" always a resounding NO!!Or "Mmmm your missing a really good dinner. Right daddy?? Mmmmmmm"we like everything it is a phase gl!

AviatorJJ

stay strong mom! i would do the same thing, be calm about the choices that you make with him. no screaming...just this is the deal.