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For the Raising Kids is Tough series, August has been all about your Eating Battles. This is the final edition of Eating Battles.
This week are all the questions that came in throughout the month and I’ve posted on Facebook to have fans, as well as the experts, give you their answers!
The Hands On Experts:
- Mom Expert: Jill of A Mom with a Lesson Plan
- Parenting Expert: Erin of The Intentional Parent
- Teaching Expert: Deborah of Teach Preschool
- Lifestyle Expert: Sarah of Füdoo Boards
These hands on experts have given their professional and personal answers to help lessen your eating battles that you submitted.
Your Eating Battles:
- Dinner Table Battles
- Going Out to Eat
- Picky Eaters
- Healthy Snacks
- More Eating Battles (The Experts’ advice below) :
- Eating Independence
- Slow Eating
- Constant Hunger
- Eating Manners
The experts each chose a couple questions to give their input on, some questions have answers from multiple experts, while others may only have one expert’s advice.
More EATING BATTLES
Managing time at the table… I have a bunch of young kiddos and it seems I spend the majority of the meal cutting up food, refilling water, spoon-feeding… I guess I’d love tips on helping them be more independent. — asked by QuirkyMomma |
This advice and helpful tips come from two experts:
- Food Expert: Sarah of Füdoo Boards
- Parenting Expert: Erin of The Intentional Parent
- Facebook Fans! : Check out the answers that were posted on the hands on : as we grow community.
Food Expert (Sarah from Füdoo Boards) :No matter how many or how old your kids are, nurturing independence at the dinner table will always pay off later on. What I mean is, as they grow older, they will be able to take on greater responsibilities at the table, and to exhibit more developed manners and table skills because you let them work on simple tasks early on. Here are a couple ideas I am always passing on:
— Sarah, Fudoo Boards |
Parenting Expert (Erin from The Intentional Parent) :If the child is very young, and needs to be fed, you could try feeding them just before everybody sits down to eat, and then giving them some finger foods duing the meal. You could try to plan ahead, as Jamie said, get everything ready before they sit down (food cut, glasses of water on the table).If they are still asking for something every few minutes at the table, I would then try to make them wait a while, and not jump up immediately for unnecessary water refills (“Okay, I’ll get you some more water in 5 minutes, keep eating”).With kids a bit older (and if they are asking for help at the table, refills on water etc. excessively) it is usually about attention. Depending on their ages, you can also enlist their help in setting up and preparing the meal (even a 2 year old will have fun helping you set the table).– Erin, The Intentional Parent |
Add to the discussion: More answers (from myself and others!) are on the note: Raising Kids is Tough : Eating Independence found on the hands on : as we grow Facebook community. |
Here’s my question — HOW DO I GET MY VERY SLOW DAUGHTER TO EAT IN LESS THAN AN HOUR? Seriously!!!! She forgets what she’s doing, fork held mid-air gazing off into the distance. How will she survive school lunch if she needs someone to jump start her every five minutes??? She’s thin — and needs to eat! — asked by Karen |
This advice and helpful tips come from one expert:
- Food Expert: Sarah of Füdoo Boards
- Facebook Fans! : Check out the answers that were posted on the hands on : as we grow community.
Food Expert (Sarah from Füdoo Boards) :Okay Karen, it sounds like she may not be hungry enough to eat with gusto (This was already mentioned as a possibility). It is great to see hungry children sit down to eat their dinner. Is she eating snacks right up to dinnertime? What time are you able to eat dinner? |
My family’s eating schedule runs like clockwork. We eat breakfast at 7am. Small snack at 10:30 (if the kids are hungry). Lunch at noon. Snack at 3ish (they are usually hungrier here, so a medium size snack). Kitchen is closed after this snack until dinner. Dinner at 5:30-6. They are hungry and ready to eat again. The trick is to quit hanging around the food and snacks once snack is over. Time to get outside and go play!
If this isn’t the problem, you might want to try engaging her in more conversation about the food and activities about eating her food. The füdoo Board, works great for keeping a family focused on what they are eating meal by meal. Also, make sure you are sitting down together and using meal time as talking time, instead of trying to get dishes done, surfing the web, or talking to only adults. Good luck!
— Sarah, Fudoo Boards
Add to the discussion: More answers are on the note: Raising Kids is Tough : Slow Eating found on the hands on : as we grow Facebook community. |
My children seem to CONSTANTLY be hungry. I try to only keep healthy snacks in the house, but I’m starting to get frustrated with the amount of grazing that goes on. I’ve taken to putting up a baby gate at the door of the kitchen with a big sign that reads “KITCHEN CLOSED!” Should I be concerned about this? — asked by Kristin@SenseofWonder |
This advice and helpful tips come from one expert:
- Mom Expert: Jill of A Mom with a Lesson Plan
- Facebook Fans! : Check out the answers that were posted on the hands on : as we grow community.
Mom Expert (Jill from A Mom with a Lesson Plan) :A while back I read an article about grazing. It was written by a pediatrician who believes grazing is actually very good for kids. He suggested setting out a muffin tin with fruits, veggies and pretzels and leaving it out all day for the kids to come and go. I am far to scheduled for that to work around me (I did consider it though.) Let me know if you try it…I’d love to see it in action!– Jill, A Mom with a Lesson Plan |
Add to the discussion: More answers are on the note: Raising Kids is Tough : Constant Hunger found on the hands on : as we grow Facebookcommunity. |
MY QUESTION HAS TO DO WITH MANNERS/HOW TO ACT AT THE TABLE… I have a 2 and 3 year old boy. My three year old is super messy and has his hands on everything around him. He puts his spoon up in the air and feeds off his brother to get into trouble. I feel like we spend most of our time when eating…”correcting” almost to the point of feeling like I’m nagging. How much should we expect from them and what can we do to encourage good eating habits without correcting the whole time? — asked by Anne |
This advice and helpful tips come from two experts:
- Teaching Expert: Deborah of Teach Preschool
- Food Expert: Sarah of Füdoo Boards
- Facebook Fans! : Check out the answers that were posted on the hands on : as we grow community.
Teaching Expert (Deborah from Teach Preschool) :This is such a good question! One thing I would like to suggest is to teach eating habits at other times and long before you get to the dinner table. There are a variety of times you can focus on this issue and by doing so, when you get to the dinner table, rather teaching your expectations at the table, you can be focused on reinforcing what you have have been teaching all along. For example:
For those of you who hold hands and pray before a meal – this also serves as a way to calm down and focus on eating as a family. If you sit down on the couch before the meal begins – you can quietly say things like “I am so happy we get to eat together as a family – let’s all tip toe to the table so we can be together.” In other words – come to the table calm and have the table ready rather than come to the table and have a whole list of things you still have to do. Your calmness and organization will help everyone be more relaxed. But be prepared for something to go wrong and still stay calm. I hope some of these ideas help. They are out of the box but when breaking bad habits or establishing good habits with really young children you have to be willing to make unusual efforts and think outside the box. — Deborah, Teach Preschool |
Food Expert (Sarah from Füdoo Boards) :Here’s my 2 cents, okay 5 cents. Teaching table manners starts as soon as your child is sitting at the dinner table in a high chair. We start using our please and thank yous, knowing this is where we can begin to model the behavior we want to see exhibited by the child. But what can we really expect from a 2-3 year old child? The basics. Holding a spoon properly, not throwing food, not spitting out food, and saying please and thank you are good places to begin. If it helps you, make a short list of five table manners that you think your child and family can work on together. Using a list (for yourself) keeps the focus on simple manners and you being able to watch how these behaviors develop. Using this list you can choose to correct your child, ignore the behavior (not every misbehavior needs correction), or fix the behavior without speaking about it, and then move on with your family’s meal. Try not to feed control issues or get overly upset. I don’t like feeling like a nag either. If your child engages in behavior that is unacceptable to you, try removing him or her from the table. Then they miss out on the fun. And, yes, mealtime can be fun (well most of the time). Try a couple of these ideas to get your child committed to having a nice meal with the family where he is fully engaged and appreciated.
— Sarah, Fudoo Boards |
Add to the discussion: More answers (from Erin of The Intentional Parent, and others) are on the note: Raising Kids is Tough : Eating Manners found on the hands on : as we grow Facebook community. |
Thank you experts (and the Facebook Community!) for your extensive knowledge!
These experts are very much appreciated for giving their time to answer these questions on hands on : as we grow. Please check out their websites.
Next Monday, we’re shifting gears to Unwanted Behaviors. From unwanted advice/discipline from outside sources to boys fighting to nagging from your children! All sorts of advice will be given, I can’t wait to see what the experts will say!
I’ll also be posting each of the questions on the hands on : as we grow Facebook Community as I publish them, so you can give your input as well!
Thank you to all the readers who have submitted questions! – any additional questions that come throughout the month on Unwanted Behaviors will be posted on the Facebook community and I’ll do a summary post like this at the end of the month again!
Head over and submit your question
(All topics are welcome, just use the ‘Other’ category!)
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