14 Month Throwing Food

[Cradle2crayons]

I absolutely would never out a sheet or anything else under a child so they could just throw food on the floor. No way Jose. You throw food in purpose, you lose your food. That is the perfect age to teach them consequences, IMO.

That'd be like 18 month old Sally punching bobby in the face. Provider removes bobby without a word to Sally. Sally gets no consequences because he's still learning cause and effect. Telling him no may hurt his feelings so let's remove the person he punched.

Consequences.... A child that age needs to learn cause and effect... Yes... And that cause leads to consequences.

Just my two cents

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I have2 year old twins that think they are so funny tossing food... Until they lose their meal.

[Leigh]

If it is just a little then ita. I'm thinking more along the lines of a few times when one of my older ones (15+ months) has thrown large handfuls or their cup with my previous reply. A little food always ends up on the floor and I just accept it. Sometimes they drop a small handful of 5 or so cheerios and when nothing happens they just go back to eating because it's more fun.

When it's handfuls, and nothing is going in the mouth, I take THAT as a sign that the child is not hungry.::

[AmyKidsCo]

I give them VERY little food at one time.

If they throw, I say "NO!!"

If they do it again, they get down.

Rinse and repeat.

It really doesn't take them long to figure out they'd rather eat then throw

Just be firm and consistent.

I know everyone is worried that the child may not get much to eat then, but I really truly believe that when a child begins to throw food, they know FULL well what they are doing. (watch the ones younger...they rarely throw food because they are hungry and want to eat).

Once they start throwing food, it becomes a game to them because no matter what mom (or caregiver) wants them to eat so they don't starve so the child usually gets to throw AND gets some more food which IMHO, reinforces the throwing and so on and so on, but I truly believe they need to have some natural consequences (loss of food/hunger) in order to "get it" and use good manners.

Ditto!!! Once they get past the "Will food really fall to the ground EVERY time I drop it?" curiosity, it's a deliberate action. (Ever notice how they rarely throw their favorite foods?)

Most children can skip a meal or two without suffering ill effects, and most children learn VERY quickly that throwing food means no more food until the next meal. I've also noticed that most children eat something before starting to throw, so they're not going totally hungry.

[Blackcat31]

HOWEVER.....if your on the food program and are required to serve specific portions of the food groups can you limit what is on his plate??:confused:

My food program only requires that I have the required serving sizes AVAILABLE to the children. It does NOT have to actually be on their plates.

Other food programs interpret the federal rules/guidelines differently so I would double check with your coordinator just to be sure what rules/guidelines you have to follow.

[tenderhearts]

Agree, agree, agree!

This is what I do too, and I also give them little bits at a time.

[MamaBearCanada]

Thanks all. I am not on a food program so I can approach meals how I see best. I followed some of the advice from here (gave less, ignored behavior, praised for good manners) & today was much better

[melilley]

Thanks all. I am not on a food program so I can approach meals how I see best. I followed some of the advice from here (gave less, ignored behavior, praised for good manners) & today was much better

So it does work. I was going to do that today, but of course for some odd reason there wasn't any food thrown...