Parenting toddlers during their picky eater stage is a rollercoaster. Toddlers go through phases of eating well, becoming picky eaters, eating only one kind of food, eating everything, and eating nothing. These swings can lead to frustration for both the parent and child. This article’s focus is to try and shed some light on tactics that might not be appropriate for many toddlers.
When your toddler is not eating well and ruining your dinner (we’ve all been there), it can be very tempting to get frustrated and begin to dictate what your child will or won’t do. Toddlers need and benefit from firm rules, but flexibility is also a key component of successful parenting. Following are some methods for dealing with a picky eater that might not be realistic for a toddler during meal time. These are things to evaluate for yourself, but keep in mind that you know your toddler better than anyone.
Insist Your Toddler Finish Their Meal: Forcing a toddler to sit still and eat until their food is finished might not be realistic. The amount of food a child needs to eat will fluctuate from day to day and depending on what they have already eaten, they might not need to finish everything in front of them. I also don’t think children in the early toddler years can fully understand negotiation tactics such as “You can’t get up until you’re done”
Insist Your Toddler not Make a Mess: Asking toddlers to be neat and clean during meals and not make a mess is probably not going to happen. They don’t possess the coordination to not drop food, but they will learn. I’m not recommending letting your child get away with throwing food, but dribbles, drops, and spills are a way of life.
Make Them Eat Only What you Have Prepared: Again, flexibility is key here. You want to encourage them to try new foods and eat what you have prepared, but it most likely won’t happen. The reasons for this range from their developing palette to the food texture. Offer a variety of foods, but don’t offer everything under the sun.
Keep in mind that toddlers are not hungry on the schedule that adults are accustomed to. They are more active than adults and require more than three set meals a day. Flexibility with limits can lead to a more pleasurable dinner experience for you and your child.
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