For Those Who Have Young Children At Home

[AmyLeigh]

If it is true hunger than I would let him have a healthy snack (away from dck's) in between their meals. But you originally stated "I keep telling him that if he ate more of his lunch instead of running off to play, he wouldn't be hungry now. But he insists and goes to the snack cabinet". Which is different than what you are saying now. In those cases I would make him sit at the table at meal times, not run off to play. Same as I would do for the daycare kids. Just curious, what would you do if it was a daycare child, not your own? Would you feel it was a growth spurt or a discipline issue if it was one of them acting as your son is????

Good point. Fact of the matter is, I may go ahead and feed the daycare child if he/she was consistently asking for more food later. Maybe even more so because I don't know how much/what the child eats when not in my care.

Yes, I did say that I told him if he ate more of his lunch he wouldn't be as hungry that soon. I didn't say he didn't eat. I was getting frustrated only because I knew that the rest of the children would be bugging me for more food because they saw ds eat. Ds actually comes to me asking for food, dcc don't. If they see it, then they want to eat. When discussing it with dh, I realized that my frustration was more from me being inconvenienced than anything. That's not fair to any child.

Question: How long do you make the children sit at the table, then? Ten minutes, twenty, thirty? Til they clean their plates? I tend to let them listen to their bodies cues and they tell me when they are done. When the children say that they are finished eating, do you tell them that they still have to stay at the table? :confused:

I'm getting the feeling I am much more relaxed in my approach to children than most here. I treat my dcc as my own. We aren't strictly structured here. It's just one big happy family. And that's just how we like it.

[AmyLeigh]

Lol. Then I suggest a large garden and a SAMs club card. Lolgood Luck. My son is 20 and working + full class load. He doesn't even taste food. Lol hes like a shop vac.

It's a family trait. When I was a teenager I could out-eat my 6 foot, 200 lb father after he worked a 12 hour shift at the tire factory. And I was about 110 lbs at the time.
Remember the kid in Breakfast Club with the HUGE lunch? That was how dh was as a teen! Lol.

[laundrymom]

Here I keep everyone at the table until they are all done. I seat my slowest eater first, and fastest last. If they tell me they are finished I ask them. Do you want me to take your plate and give you a book or lacing card? Or do you want to keep your plate? They decide. But because of sight and sound we stay in the same room always.

Good point. Fact of the matter is, I may go ahead and feed the daycare child if he/she was consistently asking for more food later. Maybe even more so because I don't know how much/what the child eats when not in my care.

Yes, I did say that I told him if he ate more of his lunch he wouldn't be as hungry that soon. I didn't say he didn't eat. I was getting frustrated only because I knew that the rest of the children would be bugging me for more food because they saw ds eat. Ds actually comes to me asking for food, dcc don't. If they see it, then they want to eat. When discussing it with dh, I realized that my frustration was more from me being inconvenienced than anything. That's not fair to any child.

Question: How long do you make the children sit at the table, then? Ten minutes, twenty, thirty? Til they clean their plates? I tend to let them listen to their bodies cues and they tell me when they are done. When the children say that they are finished eating, do you tell them that they still have to stay at the table? :confused:

I'm getting the feeling I am much more relaxed in my approach to children than most here. I treat my dcc as my own. We aren't strictly structured here. It's just one big happy family. And that's just how we like it.