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Austin Babies
do you make your dc sit through dinner?
if you guys eat dinner together at what age did you make, or try to enfore, the rule that they have to sit at the table until dinner is over. DD will get out of her seat after 5-10 minutes at the table. Most times I know she'd probably eat more if she just sat down.
Then also, with her getting used to getting up whenever she wants at home, it gets her in the bad habit of trying to do it at restaurants where she can't just run around.
any ideas to get her to stay seated or am i expecting too much?
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Re: do you make your dc sit through dinner?
Sometimes she's "all done" and will try to start throwing food so we have to stop and clean off her tray, but we make her sit there until we're finished.
We're having that same issue at restaurants now. She's fine until it's time for the food to come out, then she's "all done" and tries to get out of the high chair.
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We have this problem also. It suuuucks. I have really tried to get Gracie to stay in her highchair for longer so that she will not throw a fit a restaurants, but have had little to no success doing it so far.
I am SO about to get judged.
The way our kitchen is set up, we let Jack eat in his learning tower. He is at the island and our table is kind of pulled up to it. We found that this helps to lengthen his time "at the table" b/c he will turn around, eat some of his food and then turn the other way to converse w/ us. From my description, I know it sounds like he's not really eating w/ the family, but I promise, he is (and he gets to choose each night whether he wants to sit at the table or stand in his tower). I also think it helps that he's standing and can move his body around.
He does need to stay at the table (in his tower) until we are all finished. He usually gets a little something for desert and knows that mom or dad gets that for him once we are done, so he doesn't leave until that treat appears
Yep, we still have DS in his chair for this reason. He would never eat if we didn't strap him down!
We've always made Luke sit through dinner with us. In the beginning he was happy to play with his food, even if he didn't eat it. He protests a bit now, but we just keep telling him, "it's okay if you're finished eating. You don't have to eat anymore, but you have to sit with Mommy & Daddy until we're finished eating."
So far so good with restaurants. He usually finishes before we do and we have to remind him that he has to wait till everyone's finished. Because we're out in public and don't want to risk a meltdown, we usually bring toys or get out the colors they give us to keep him occupied. I think we've had to take him outside to "reset" a few times, but not too often.
You have to pick and choose your battles, but it isn't too early IMO to make her wait for the rest of the family. If it's a horrific scene every.single.time. then you may want to push it back a bit. But I think/hope it's a habit. If DC gets used to it now hopefully there won't be as much resistance later on.
No judging here. Like I said, some battles just aren't worth fighting.
Right now L is in a high chair. We do plan on keeping him at the table until we are all done...hopefully it will be an easy habit to instill in him.
They sit at the table until they are done eating. I don't agree with making the kids sit at the table until everyone is done. DH and I don't always wait for each other to finish, either.
Layna sits in a regular chair. She hasn't been strapped in since about 18 months.
I refuse to fight food battles. If they aren't hungry, I don't make them eat. If they don't like it, I don't make them eat it. I don't make them clear their plates and they eat a lot of snacks.
this drives me crazy. we have friends who do this - they each get up when they are finished eating. I'm a slow eater and am always the last one at the table, by myself.
I think(or maybe it's just the early childhood educator in me) that you really have to consider what is developmentally appropriate for a child. It's just not developmentally appropriate for a child to sit in one spot for 45 minutes. As much as we wish it was the opposite, at that age, their little bodies are just not meant to do that.
With that being said, a 6 year old is far too old to not be sitting at the table and, at that point, it becomes more of a parenting issues than a development issue. My daughter(19 months) must begin at the table and she stays for about 5 or 10 minutes(sometimes more) and then she can get down. However, when she wants any food, she must climb back up in her chair and sit to eat it. My son(3.5) must sit through the whole meal until everyone else is finished. At restaurants, we will hold my daughter or one of us will walk around outside with them until the food comes. That way, she isn't sitting in a highchair for 30 minutes before the food even gets to the table...that's just a loss-loss situation.
So, not to butt heads with anyone but consider what is appropriate for the age of your child as opposed to what you want them to do.
I appreciate the expertise people bring to topics, but I don't appreciate the "obviously as an expert I know better than you on how to raise your child" tone of this post. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive but I feel like you're telling me that you know what's best for my child when you've never even met him.
For the record it isn't hard at all to get Luke to sit through dinner (most nights) and it actually encourages him to eat more. If I were to let him get up 5 minutes after he sat down he'd never eat. And I'm almost certain my pedi supports our everyone-eats-together strategy.
Well, that's different. I wouldn't get up from a dinner party. We'd be sitting around, chatting, having drinks. But I would let the kids go as soon as they were done. They shouldn't have to wait on adults who are socializing more than eating, kwim?
This is what we did as children. We'd asked to be excused and then take our dishes to the sink. We really never went to restaurants though. We always ate at home as a family. I barely even remember ordering pizza as a kid. Mom and Dad would go out, but we were then at home with my aunt or a babysitter.
Very few nesties have met everyones child or are with them often enough to know where they are developmentally. I think plenty of people on this board are being overly touchy lately (and you're not usually one of them Froggie!). If people come here and ask for help or advice, I don't get why people get their panties all in a bunch when someone actually posts an opinion. If you want a pat on the head and for everyone to agree with you, this is probably not the place to do it. We want to help and sometimes the best advice isn't the most popular.
Thanks Taytee!
I wasn't meaning to come off as some know-it-all but rather just offering an opinion other than that of a 'parent'. Sometimes, it's easier to take emotion out of something and to look at it from a developmental perspective...at least that's what I find when looking at my own children.