Lily and I had a mealtime meltdown today. So, things are a changing. We have tried everything from ignoring her, to mean mommy, to singing at mealtime, to waiting her out, to eating with her, to serving only her favorites, to cooking 3 things a meal for her. So, from now on, I will be following this piece of advice:
Just don't give her any attention when she gets picky. Tell her once that what's for dinner is what she has in her plate and that if she is not happy with it she can wait until breakfast to eat again. This is often a control issue, if you give a child a little bit of control (she controls if she eats or not) and show her that there are consequences to her actions (she gets hungry if she doesn't eat). Then she will realize that this is not an issue with you, especially if you don't show any emotion when it comes to that. I'm not saying to ignore the child throughout the whole meal. Just avoid that subject. Tell her once towards the end that mealtime is almost over and that you will take the plates away soon but nothing else. And when the meal is over, take the plates away calmly as if there was nothing to it.
We tried this advice at both lunch and dinner today. She skipped lunch (a peanut butter sandwich) and ate all of her dinner (chilli) and even had a bedtime snack! Hopefully it will be a good fix. God knows we both need it!
posted by Jenny at 6:50 PM |
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