now.. where can a buy that new age dictionary
2 yo manipulation - does it exist?
- Thread starter mary&mat
- Start date
Thanks pennyk for the tips on a selection of vegies, I'll try that too.
Thanks ldriver for the banana advice (that doesn't sound rude does it?! ); the last thing I want to do is send mixed messages so she has no idea what's expected.
Thanks to everyone for the tips. I guess ultimately it's what I feel is right as a parent, blimey, does it just get harder & harder from hereonin!?!
*reaches for afternoon whiskey*
Thanks ldriver for the banana advice (that doesn't sound rude does it?!
); the last thing I want to do is send mixed messages so she has no idea what's expected.Thanks to everyone for the tips. I guess ultimately it's what I feel is right as a parent, blimey, does it just get harder & harder from hereonin!?!
*reaches for afternoon whiskey*
Thanks ldriver,
We have the same meals as each other every night. Although, tonight I'm having wine & I'll cook her rice & peas. She ate some plain rice last night & I know she likes peas. If she doesn't eat it, it will be bath then one more offerring of her dinner, then bed...wish me luck!...oh, you already did, thanks!
We have the same meals as each other every night. Although, tonight I'm having wine & I'll cook her rice & peas. She ate some plain rice last night & I know she likes peas. If she doesn't eat it, it will be bath then one more offerring of her dinner, then bed...wish me luck!...oh, you already did, thanks!
Hi maryandmat, good to see you on the boards again! We are just now getting out of the terrible twos now my son is 4, nearly 5. It's so true that they are the Terrible Twos because the behaviour last for TWO years!
But it DOES GET BETTER!!! I agree with all the great advice given here and just wanted to offer my support and sympathy.
I also now follow some advice that was given to me and that is: serve up the amount you think they should eat, now halve it, and halve it again. Serve that up and if it gets eaten, offer some more. If it's not eaten you can put the stuff not served in the freezer for another day or a greedy DH. Otherwise they put their fingers in it and lick it so you chuck it out (or feed the dog) which can frazzle your nerves after all the effort of cooking it.
Yes, let her go a little hungry sometimes. Don't let 'mother's guilt' fool you here. She'll probably just eat a really good breakfast to make up for it in the morning and won't even remember not eating dinner.
P.S. My other tip is sit down to dinner with some wine in a plastic cup and take a sip regularly I'm joking ofcourse... or am I??
But it DOES GET BETTER!!!
I agree with all the great advice given here and just wanted to offer my support and sympathy. I also now follow some advice that was given to me and that is: serve up the amount you think they should eat, now halve it, and halve it again. Serve that up and if it gets eaten, offer some more. If it's not eaten you can put the stuff not served in the freezer for another day or a greedy DH. Otherwise they put their fingers in it and lick it so you chuck it out (or feed the dog) which can frazzle your nerves after all the effort of cooking it.
Yes, let her go a little hungry sometimes. Don't let 'mother's guilt' fool you here. She'll probably just eat a really good breakfast to make up for it in the morning and won't even remember not eating dinner.
P.S. My other tip is sit down to dinner with some wine in a plastic cup and take a sip regularly
I'm joking ofcourse... or am I?? Awww, thanks Casserole; I really appreciate it.
Great advice re halving & freezing. I've been cooking up meals on my day off & freezing them to have on my work days. But it does 'get me goat' when she won't eat what I've cooked!!! (How we appreciate our mum's cooking now we're older, eh?) I'll take your advice & freeze really small portions from now on.
It's not so much mother's guilt as father's guilt. I love her to death, but I'm the strict one with parenting cos I know she needs it (discipline, rules etc) & will be a better person later on for it.
Oh yes, the plastic cup, of course you're joking! Me too *wink wink nudge nudge*
heh heh
Great advice re halving & freezing. I've been cooking up meals on my day off & freezing them to have on my work days. But it does 'get me goat' when she won't eat what I've cooked!!! (How we appreciate our mum's cooking now we're older, eh?) I'll take your advice & freeze really small portions from now on.
It's not so much mother's guilt as father's guilt. I love her to death, but I'm the strict one with parenting cos I know she needs it (discipline, rules etc) & will be a better person later on for it.
Oh yes, the plastic cup, of course you're joking! Me too *wink wink nudge nudge*
heh heh
Actually my best advice is to get an aupair!
We had them from when my youngest was 5 to about 9 years old, when I went back to work full time.
They did all the weekday cooking, cleaning and after school care. It made our lives so much easier, and cost a fraction of having both kids in after school care.
Highly recommended.....
We had them from when my youngest was 5 to about 9 years old, when I went back to work full time.
They did all the weekday cooking, cleaning and after school care. It made our lives so much easier, and cost a fraction of having both kids in after school care.
Highly recommended.....
Sounds fantastic, and something I would consider if I was needing that sort of help (or if I was younger and my kids were younger and I wanted to go back to work).
BUT... make sure she is old and ugly. Just the phrase "au pair" would be enough to get my husband going.
all of ours were young swedish or german girls, all blonde and fit.... no wonder my husband was so happy to have them around!!
Thanks Pen. He is interested but not that ready I think.
Sigh.. I need at least one out of nappies. Mummy wants to buy more houses.
We had to face the eating problem last night.
She refused to eat but then we gave her half a banana and then she started eating few mouthfuls. That was enough to make us not feel guilty to send her to bed.
I’m not sure why some of you are against banana though. Sometimes it helps to give in a bit to gain more
Sometimes it works when we take turns to eat a spoon. I pretend to compete for the same food so we take turns to eat.
She refused to eat but then we gave her half a banana and then she started eating few mouthfuls. That was enough to make us not feel guilty to send her to bed.
I’m not sure why some of you are against banana though. Sometimes it helps to give in a bit to gain more
Sometimes it works when we take turns to eat a spoon. I pretend to compete for the same food so we take turns to eat.
I'd say *making* your children eat their dinner is setting them up for an eating disorder ... even if it is healthy food. Let them eat when they're hungry.
Don't really have tantrums in this house ... Miss 10 gets into 'snits' occasionally (involves door slamming), Miss 3 has 'meltdowns' when she get told no or someone breaks what she is building, which generally involves sitting down and wailing and generally being very upset. Mr 1 on the other hand can really ramp up the screaming if, you know, we don't let him go outside while its raining and 5 degrees, but he only does that about going outside ... which is REALLY annoying when we have clients over.
A lot of the time we leave Miss 3's dinner on the table and she'll keep coming back over the next hour and finishes it off, despite claims of 'not hungry'. Which sometimes results in her getting upset if her little brother has already eaten her dinner
How are you going mary&kat?
Is it not amazing when one week they are perfectly fine, the next week they decided that they are going to annoy you on purpose?
Is it not amazing when one week they are perfectly fine, the next week they decided that they are going to annoy you on purpose?
Sometimes one can be a bit lenient and flexible ... but not as an "extra" to dinner.
Junior loves raw carrot, but not cooked, so when preparing dinner I put a handful of raw carrots on her plate before tossing the rest in the pot or, if cooking a curry, I pick out and put more of the things she likes on her plate. Perhaps you could put some sliced banana on her plate - as part of dinner - if you are worried she won't eat what you have prepared.
That way, what she is eating is part of dinner - not an extra. That way, neither of you stress
Also, good luck with the "adding puree food to healthy ones" Junior loves homemade hamburgers - put if I try to sneak a single tablespoon of mashed pumpkin into enough mince to make 4 patties, she can taste it immediately and makes a fuss! (sigh)
Anyhow - chin up and persist! Sometimes dad's can be your worst enemy without them realising
Junior loves raw carrot, but not cooked, so when preparing dinner I put a handful of raw carrots on her plate before tossing the rest in the pot or, if cooking a curry, I pick out and put more of the things she likes on her plate. Perhaps you could put some sliced banana on her plate - as part of dinner - if you are worried she won't eat what you have prepared.
That way, what she is eating is part of dinner - not an extra. That way, neither of you stress
Also, good luck with the "adding puree food to healthy ones"
Junior loves homemade hamburgers - put if I try to sneak a single tablespoon of mashed pumpkin into enough mince to make 4 patties, she can taste it immediately and makes a fuss! (sigh)Anyhow - chin up and persist! Sometimes dad's can be your worst enemy without them realising
Thanks again for all the input. Wish there was a one size fits all solution.
Was advised similar to devank, about making mealtime a game to try to get her to eat
Hi Lamingtons, not stressing out so much anymore thanks to a lot of the advice on here! We'll just take it week by week, day by day. Seems they change their flavour of the month every other day anyway from what's been said here. Milo is king at present so that's as close to 'sweets' as she's getting.
Confusing thing is she appears to eat everything served at childcare...is it the mystery of peer pressure? Perhaps with the meals there she's too full for a big dinner when she gets home?
Tonight is takeaway night so she'll be having fish n chips with us - funnily enough, it's normally not a problem meal.
Was advised similar to devank, about making mealtime a game to try to get her to eat
Hi Lamingtons, not stressing out so much anymore thanks to a lot of the advice on here! We'll just take it week by week, day by day. Seems they change their flavour of the month every other day anyway from what's been said here. Milo is king at present so that's as close to 'sweets' as she's getting.
Confusing thing is she appears to eat everything served at childcare...is it the mystery of peer pressure? Perhaps with the meals there she's too full for a big dinner when she gets home?
Tonight is takeaway night so she'll be having fish n chips with us - funnily enough, it's normally not a problem meal.
If she's eating a full meal at childcare, its unlikely she'll also eat a full meal at night. and they always do what they are supposed to do at child care (whether its from peer pressure, or because there is no other option, I'm not sure). But generally they also then "release the pressure" when they get home and are more relaxed.
I was just thinking of a funny story with my kids. We went on a cruise a couple of years ago, and had the big buffet dinner. My kids vegetable intake generally consists of cucumber, carrot, peas, beans and those sort of harmless veges. So, the kids picked out some of the "italian butter vegetable" option in the buffet.... "oh mummy, this cucumber is so delicious", they even went back for seconds. Of course, we didnt tell them it was zucchini until later.
I was just thinking of a funny story with my kids. We went on a cruise a couple of years ago, and had the big buffet dinner. My kids vegetable intake generally consists of cucumber, carrot, peas, beans and those sort of harmless veges. So, the kids picked out some of the "italian butter vegetable" option in the buffet.... "oh mummy, this cucumber is so delicious", they even went back for seconds. Of course, we didnt tell them it was zucchini until later.
Ours does that too, used to do it with fresh veggies but we switched to frozen recently (cheaper and tastes better - we had a run of quite revolting fresh carrots) and she HAS to have some as we put them in the pot
I'm not a parent but I don't think you should worry about forming good eating patterns yet (as far as 3 meals and 3 snacks or anything like that). I think young children eat erratically and it's normal. If they don't want to eat don't force them. Don't guilt them about starving children in Africa or bribe them with dessert to get them to finish their plates. I think that is way more damaging. It teaches you to eat all the food in front of you rather than to eat when you're hungry and until you’re content. In a world where meals are supersized and portion size is out of control I think that is so damaging.
I think the best way to teach children about healthy eating is by example. If you watch your parents cooking (and even participate in cooking) and see them eating a healthy, balanced diet you're going to grow up with good habits.
But if you grow up watching your parents diet and binge eat, live off takeaway or over eat that is how you form bad habits. I think being overly conscientious about food can be damaging too. If you start labeling foods as good and bad and depriving children of sweets you’re going to give them an eating disorder or they’re going to go crazy and binge when they’re around those types of food.
There are probably very good reasons why children are erratic eaters, I think it's to do with how they grow.
I think if I were a parent I'd focus of having lots of healthy and nutritious snacks on hand, cook meals which can be reheated later if they don't feel like eating at normal meal times and introduce them to lots of new foods. I'd probably try to get them involved as much as possible in preparing food as soon as they're old enough too.
I think the best way to teach children about healthy eating is by example. If you watch your parents cooking (and even participate in cooking) and see them eating a healthy, balanced diet you're going to grow up with good habits.
But if you grow up watching your parents diet and binge eat, live off takeaway or over eat that is how you form bad habits. I think being overly conscientious about food can be damaging too. If you start labeling foods as good and bad and depriving children of sweets you’re going to give them an eating disorder or they’re going to go crazy and binge when they’re around those types of food.
There are probably very good reasons why children are erratic eaters, I think it's to do with how they grow.
I think if I were a parent I'd focus of having lots of healthy and nutritious snacks on hand, cook meals which can be reheated later if they don't feel like eating at normal meal times and introduce them to lots of new foods. I'd probably try to get them involved as much as possible in preparing food as soon as they're old enough too.
LOL-- yes, same issue here...how much is she eating? My children eat 2-3X their serves- given that childcare is supposed to represent 50% of their daily nutrition, I think we're way above their needs! Dinner is pretty much nothing- though yesterday's mastercheffing with some shredded cheese on top of their pasta did increase their intake, but only slightly
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