I posted this same question a while ago. =) I officially put 20 minutes in my schedule but it rarely takes any of them that long. Normally it's more like 10 minutes.
Hee Hee. It depends on the day, but most of the time it takes my group of 3-5 yr olds 15 minutes to eat lunch. A couple of them will take forever if I let them, especially if it's not their favorite lunch. So I'll set the timer for a half hour, and whatever is left gets trashed. They can always make up for it during afternoon snack!
A little trick I use when they are talking like crazy and not eating:
The Quiet Game. You say everyone has to be quiet and see who can keep quiet the longest. They absolutely love this game and ask for it everyday during lunch. I say "1...2...3...ssssssshhh." They all finally calm down and eat their lunch; trying to see if they can last the longest without talking. They all throw each other the funniest looks since they are trying to keep from talking. It's so cute. Works every time. ::
15 minutes of prep time (clean up, handwashing)
30 minutes to eat/bus their area after eating
15 minutes to clean up (handwashing, brush teeth, use toilet)
Mine are a bit younger, but I have two that take 10-15 minutes, sometimes less...and one who will take 45 minutes to eat a granola bar at snack time. One more who will sit at the table not touching the food for as long as I let him, which is usually when I get bored of waiting for the pokey one to finish eating. Then I just decide that they are both done and it's away for naps we go. Sooo, 20 minutes, give or take. Usually.
When I had 3 older children, some days they would seriously take an hr. to eat, if I allowed it. I gave them like 20-25 min. to eat everything, if not then they would go hungry, if they haven't eaten everything by then.
Eating usually takes about 15 - 20 mins. If they haven't eaten by then, I know they're not going to.
At that point, I'll tell them that they will not get a snack after nap if they don't eat. If they start eating, fine. If not, I have them toss their plate in the trash and head to the bathroom.
Thanks everyone! I give about 20 minutes to eat. One dcg is really pushing it lately so I've been setting the timer. I just wanted to double check that my time limit was pretty normal. Thanks!
About 20 min for all of my kids to finish. I have one (autism dx) who will intentionally be slow to try to avoid nap. I started setting an egg timer with 15 min in front of his spot. I think only 1 or 2 times did I actually tell him lunch was over. He now knows if he wants to eat he needs to do it while everyone else is eating. Either way he is taking a nap. I don't even put the timer out but once every two weeks or so if he is having a particularly bad day.
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