Won't Swallow Food?

[CraftyMom]

Unfortunately he clamped his mouth shut. He only swallowed once we got back inside and then immediately asked if he could play...so his motivation was being able to go back inside.

Next time, if it happens again this way, don't allow him to play for 10 minutes or so once you go back inside since this seems to have been what he was wanting all along.

To a 3 yo the amount of time he had to sit and hold the carrot probably doesn't matter to him, he probably sees it as he got his way regardless. Like "oh we're going back in now, I got my way so I'll swallow the carrot now and go play"

[DaycareMom]

My kids will do this when they don't like something - they will keep the food in their mouths for hours! It used to drive me crazy.

Now I have a time limit for meals. They have 30 mins. Once the timer goes off, they clean off their plates and either swallow or spit out whatever is in their mouth. Don't make a big deal of it. I would give 1 min TOPS to let them swallow what is in their mouth. If they don't, make them spit it out and move on with your day.

[craftymissbeth]

You said so yourself, he doesn't like to go outside to play, why feel bad that he doesn't play? Keep doing what you are doing and if he wants to sit out with food in his mouth let him, he just can't get up from a spot if he has it in his mouth like you . did. Like the other behavior, if you ignore it theres no payoff because he won't get his way.

Holding food in his mouth was, like you said, a stall tactic which you weren't going to let work. If you told him he couldn't go outside if he didn't put his shoes on first then he won't put his shoes on. Don't give him that choice, only choices you want him to choose from.
"We are going outside. You can walk or I can carry you." Then only give him 10 seconds or so to make the choice before making the choice for him. Don't talk about it further. Once outside offer him new choices "Playing with food in your mouth is not safe. you can spit out the food and go play or you can sit here with the food in your mouth." If he chooses to keep the food in hi mouth then let that be his choice and don't let it bother you. I think if you keep doing what you are doing and don't give a lot of attention to this behavior then this will get better too.

Treat outside time like food, offer it but don't force them to participate.

about the choices given! I had a 3 yo dcb who would throw a fit (and strip naked) any time I asked him to do anything. I finally started rephrasing my expectations: "do you want to change your pull-up or do you want me to do it?" "Do you want to walk to time out or do you want me to carry you there?" "Do you want to put your clothes back on yourself or would you like me to do it?"

He wanted control of the situation, but he was also fiercely independent, which helped.

"Do you want to swallow that carrot now or do you want to spend the rest of forever in the chokey?"

[MarinaVanessa]

"Do you want to swallow that carrot now or do you want to spend the rest of forever in the chokey?"

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[Kabob]

I guess I just felt bad because it suddenly has been so nice outside that I felt like he was missing out.

Today went better though. He started to stall at snack time again so I took away his snack when everyone was all done and he was stalling and told him snack time was over and we were going outside. He briefly held the remaining food in his mouth but then quickly changed his mind while the other kids got all sorts of attention for getting ready to go outside and I pretended I didn't notice him sitting there holding food in his mouth. Less than 5 minutes later he asked to be excused with no food in his mouth and got ready by himself without any whining and played the entire time outside. So. Hopefully we're on the right track...

He was also working on being my helper today...which seemed to help him immensely...