Dinner time in your house

How does dinner time go in your place?

We recently stayed with family in Oz who had a 17mth old boy, same age as Elle. He sat at the table in a booster seat, waited patiently for dinner, ate quietly with his fork and spoon and ate everything on his plate. He drank from a normal cup and sat until everyone else was finished.

Is this common at this age? I won't even begin to describe Elle's dinnertime in our house....

It's a bit like a zoo at our house.  But Ella has a friend the same age as her who drinks from a cup (not a sippy-cup) and I think that's so impressive!  Nah, we're far from what you described at your friend's. 

We're nowhere near that good! DD sits at the table becuase she was climbing out of her high chair, and has started drinking out of a normal cup (but we have to keep a close eye on her still). She uses a fork or spoon but stuff still goes everywhere and no way does she wait quietly until everyone is finished! Actually, she eats heaps earlier than us so often we won't be eating at the table with her anyway. But once she's done she starts playing with her food, tipping the bowl over, standing up in her chair etc. etc.

Dinner time at our place is a very messy affair James tries to drink from normal cup but gets it everywhere so he's not quite ready for that yet I agree with Anna it's a lot more fun and they look so cute with food all over them. Although I did catch myself saying I can't wait till he's older so he isn't as messy then Jesse goes I'm 30 and still spill things.

Seb can barely use a spoon - unless the idea is to *stab* his weetbix that is

welcome home fiona...

what a well trained little boy that was... i wonder what they did to get to that stage?

certainly doesnt describe out house and the kids are older than that... maybe hes just one of those kids tho really likes to copy adults...

What do you do when your toddler throws their food on the floor? For a while we assumed it was developmental so ignored it with the idea that if we didn't make a big deal over it it would stop. Now I say "Gabrielle, please do not throw your food on the floor" and try to focus on encouraging her on the rare occasion that she eats some of it. However, she just looks at me and keeps throwing.

I now say "ok, your not hungry" and get her down. She is very happy about that as it means she gets away with not eating.

Should I do something different?

fiona throwing food in our house meant they had finished too...

Maybe dinner time is too late for her? or maybe she wants to sit somewhere different? is she in the highchair on at the table. ?

I try to encourage sitting at the table even when the boys arent eating so they dont get to run away and play and eating with them is always easier.

I think having an older sibling to 'copy' can make a huge difference.

Layla-Mei (19 months) sits at the table quietly, eats all her dinner on her own and uses a normal cup. She has been doing this for atleast 4 months now?

I have a feeling that this is mainly because of Maddisyn (our 6yo) who is very well behaved and she tends to want to be the same.

In November last year my husband and I went away for our Wedding Anniversary and the girls stayed with my Aunty & Uncle... the first thing they mentioned to us was how well Layla-Mei eats and how well behaved she was at the table.
It wasn't til then that I started to notice the difference between her dinner time habbits and her cousins (all a similar age) who couldn't sit still.

But its not always smooth sailing... she is still a typical toddler and has her cranky days where food ends up on the floor or she wants to sit on my knee and eat off my plate! It doesn't matter that its the same food. haha

Edited by mamawendz

Rhiannon sits at the table with us, in a booster type seat, she eats what we eat, with a fork and spoon, drinks out of a plastic tumbler, tends to feed the floor and general enjoys her meals