First off, I have to say that I love this kid more than any other kid has ever been loved before and more than any other kid will ever be loved...
But I need some advice! So help, please.Last week he took half an hour to finish eating dinner and tonight he took an hour to finish eating dinner. (I did fix stuff he eats and likes.) What advice would you mothers, or others, give me to help him eat faster. I don't want him to eat so fast he gets a tummy ache but it would be nice if he could eat in under 20 minutes, or is that too much to ask?
6 comments:
My boys have the opposite problem. They shovel their food in. I think it is because they have learned from eating lunch at school that the faster they eat the more recess time they have. But at dinner I am always telling them to slow down. Sounds like they could use some lessons from Ethan!!
Set a timer and tell him that if he eats all his food by the time the buzzer goes off he gets a prize--something he wants (doesn't have to be tangible, could be playing a game, stay up later 5- minutes, just something he values).
I agree with the timer idea. But I wouldn't use an incentive. Just tell him dinner will be over when the timer goes off, and take his plate when it does. He probably will be upset, but it'll only take one time, I promise! (I learned this in the love and logic book I read!) I used it with Logan once and he has no problem now! Ethan is so cute. I love that picture of him!
Could it be a phase? Benjamin takes 45 minutes or more to eat dinner and we have been trying all kinds of things too. He chews his food forever and doesn't ever swallow.
My kids also take a while, but that is because they have started contributing more to the dinner conversation. This is a battle I don't often fight. When we have deadlines, I let them know that they need to eat quickly or we will lose priveleges. Mostly this is for lunch time before school starts. There is so little they have control over and if they don't mind eating their food cold, within a semi-reasonable time frame, then I don't fight it. I have other battles that I choose to fight instead.
Taking dinner away is an incentive in and of itself (from Celeste's comment).
Post a Comment