Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Table Manners....
and (almost) 15 mos. olds don't mix! My little one has the delightful habit of throwing her sippy cup and sometimes her food, several times in a meal. The cup throwing isn't as messy, just annoying. But the food can be quite the disaester. This becomes especially tricky when we're at other people's houses. I just feel bad! When she was younger, I just figured she'd grow out of it. But now I feel like we need to reverse the habit before it's too late. "No, no" doesn't do a thing. I've heard of taking their food away, but then she doesn't eat. And my stubborn little girl is not the type to give in! Any other ideas???
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5 comments:
I have to admit, we used the "you're all done with that then" routine. She'd get a warning "if you throw that again, it's all done", I'd pick up her cup, and if she threw it again, it was gone! She wasn't a major food thrower though, just her cup so I understand the worries over not eating enough.
Thanks for this post!
We have to give V things like in stages. One or two different foods at a time. She wants to drop pieces off the edge when she is sick of eating it or she makes a mess of it all if there is just a lot of something on her tray at one time. I give things a few bites at a time! She is also quite intrigued by eating utensils...mainly adult ones, and that can help with the messiness. I don't even put a bib on her most of the time and she stays fairly clean (unless it's spaghetti night!!!!) "No," doesn't work for me at dinner either!! I have a friend who slaps her boy's hand when he throws things off the tray but I am not at all interested in that. I'd rather pick the cup up off the floor. Oh by the way, I usally leave her cup on the table and she just gets it when she signals for it. Then I don't have to worry so much about messes or picking it up.
I don't think that there is anything wrong with a little hand slapping if the time calls for it. I would definitely take her cup away if she keeps throwing it, because that would really get on my nerves. In fact, I am sure my kids have done it and it probably annoyed me. Don't give in, remember you are the boss.
Hey there everyone! I read this blog every once in awhile, and rarely make comments... but I read some of your comments and just wanted to explain why "no" doesn't always work the best for correcting a child's behavios. (It's the child development classes kicking in...)
Children have a hard time reversing ideas. For example, you tell the child "No, Don't do that." They may understand that you don't want to do that... but they don't understand what they CAN do... which leads to them doing it again because that is all they can think to do.
So you may be wondering... how do I effectively correct or redirect a child? Well, usually I just give them a few different "good" choices they can make. For example, going with the throwing food thing... "You are throwing the banana. Food is for eating. You can eat your banana, or you can eat your pasta."
There's a semester's worth of class in just a few sentences. I think the main thing to remember is be constant and patient. Everything is a phase that children grow into and then out of... Good luck :)
Thanks for the suggestions. Rachel-good to hear from you! I roomed with my good friend my junior year of college, who was right in the middle of child development classes and clinicals, so I'm familiar with the lingo. While I used to tease her about the lengthy explanations given to toddlers, I do agree with the concept and theory behind it. And I feel like I try to parent in a positive way like that, and not chase my daughter around shouting "NO" all day. However, I guess that's what I was getting at with this post. Giving her the "positive" choices of her food isn't working, because she is throwing them! So I guess the logical thing would be if she doesn't choose them, she's done. But this Mama is concerned about her eating enough!
Anyway, Linz I liked your thoughts of only giving her a little at a time. I have noticed that sometimes she does worse after I mix in a second or third option on her tray, it's like she gets overwhelmed! I just get lazy and like to give her a tray full of food, so the three of us can have a peaceful dinner without getting up a hundred times. Sigh, oh well!!! :)
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