I've struggled getting my kids to eat their dinner for a looooonnnnnggggg time. Maybe forever (feels like forever anyway). Oh, and I'm talking proper food, like 'adult' food... not nuggets, sausages or cheese grilled sandwiches and blah blah.
A few months ago a friend told me how she gets her two young daughters to eat their dinner. She feeds them breakfast, morning tea, lunch and then NOTHING (except water) until dinner (lunch at 11.30-12 then dinner at 5pm).
I put this to the test two days ago.
DAY 2: Miss 1 & Miss 2 ate a serving of porridge and some toast for breakfast. Then they had an apple each and shared a packet of tiny teddies. They had a handful of hot chips (Sunday tradition in our family) and a bite or two of their sandwich + strawberries. Then NOTHING til dinner. I know it is super boring but again they were served lasanga and ate it all.... again I was amazed! And they asked for their ice-cream.
How awesome is an empty plate?!
I also didn't eat anything from lunch to dinner... in case you were wondering!
ALSO: Miss 2 only asked once for something to eat each day, around 4pm. It was easy to say 'dinner will be soon' and she was happy with that!
WARNING: And yes of course, this solution won't work for every single child and parent out there. Remember this is my experience... and I am sharing to help/encourage others!
You've got me intrigued Katie... I will be trying this over the next few days!
ReplyDeleteLet me know how you go with it Bek!
DeleteI agree - when we let kids graze on snacks we shouldn't be surprised if they show no interest in meals; after all their tummys are already full! We forget it doesn't take much to fill them up.
ReplyDeleteI work in day care and we have set times for meals without food at other times, the kids eat because they know there won't be food avaible until the next set meal time and as the meals are spaced out the kids are actually hungry :)
I have heard of this strategy before! I think I often feed my kids in the afternoon as (a) a way of breaking up the routine and (b) a way of keeping them quiet as they get toward the grumpy time! I think I would find this really hard to do, for the first few days anyway.
ReplyDeleteToday (day 3) Miss 2 was grumpy for a few minutes when I wouldn't give her something to eat but she was quickly distracted by some duplo!
DeleteI hadn't thought of cutting out afternoon tea. I'll try it out for my 2 year old. I did cut out her milk drink and that made an improvement so hoping this will too.
ReplyDeleteSuccess! It's how the French do it. Check out this series of posts I wrote on the book "French Children Don't Throw Food". As a nation they are very successful at this. http://www.twinkleintheeyeblog.com/search/label/French%20Children%20Don%27t%20Throw%20Food Thanks for linking up for Flash Blog Friday!
ReplyDeleteI think I am going to have to give this a shot. My son is waging the war of all wars on dinner at the moment grrrr.
ReplyDeleteThink I need to try this too, my 20month old has been raging at dinner time lately.
ReplyDeleteOh! I like this idea, but it also terrifies me! My kiddo constantly calls out "I'm hungry!". How would I survive an afternoon of that? Hmmm, only one way to find out - and that's to give it a go!
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