Food fight problem solved w/ kitchen timer!

So, John is usually a bear when it comes to eating his dinner. Everything is either "yucky" or "I don't want this!". He will demand a snack instead or a popsicle like he did last night and of course the answer is "no, not until you eat x amount of your dinner." Last night I was determined to make him sit at the table until he ate what I asked him to but he is the master of stalling and would sit there all night pouting if he could until I finally give in. So, I got out the kitchen timer and set it for 15 minutes. I told him if he wasn't finished by the time the buzzer went off then I was throwing his food away and he didn't get a snack. He pushed it right up to the last three minutes, but it worked! He was so proud of himself for finishing before the buzzer!

I'm sure there are better ways to handle this and timing his meal time will not always work, but it did last night so everyone was happy last night and he throughly enjoyed his popsicle!