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14 Month Old Throwing Food

  1. #1
    dhirsh is offline Registered User
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    14 Month Old Throwing Food

    I need some advice. My 14 month old eats pretty well, somedays better then other days. He eats with his hands as a spoon will immediatly fly to the floor. He eats for a while and then starts throwing his food to the dog. I try to give him a little more food, but most of the time he throws that down as well. I have begun to take this as a sign that he is done and I give him his dessert, his fruit, which he finishes without the dogs help.

    I know this is a common problem and I want to know what you all do. Would you still give him his fruit? How do I teach him not to throw his food? I've read to teach him to say done instead of throwing, but he's not even saying mamma or dadda and associtaing it with us yet. Another web site says to have him pick up the food after he has thrown it and throw it in the trash. I believe this might become a game instead of a lesson, and more importantly I don't think he's at a stage where he can do that.

    I am finding this a difficult age- communication wise.


  2. #2
    megan2008 is offline Registered User
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    Maybe he likes to feed the dog? Have you tried feeding him without the dog around?


  3. #3
    dhirsh is offline Registered User
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    Kind of difficult in a small flat.


  4. #4
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    carang is offline Registered User
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    we just said "no" sternly the first time. then took the food away the next time.

    we did not give dessert, and we still don't, unless lunch etc is finished. as they get older, they get wiser and will do anything to get the "yummy" and not finish the other.


  5. #5
    Sleuth is offline Registered User
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    But it is a fine line. Eating should be a little bit of a fun time, otherwise the kids grow up hating the idea of family meals.


  6. #6
    thanka2 is offline Registered User
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    We're similar to carang. We do not allow throwing of food or spitting of food. We firmly believe that what we allow is what we are teaching our son to do and even though he's not 2-years-old yet, we believe in good manners and its easier to teach good manners from the beginning than to correct bad ones later--that's our view.

    We do allow our son to play with his food a bit--he can pick it up and play with it a bit but when he stops eating it and only playing with it, to us that's a sign that he is full and meal-time is over. We don't make a fuss about it. We just clear the food away, clean our son up and let him go play. Eventually children get hungry enough that they eat and if they miss a good meal it's not going to harm them--they'll eventually make it up later.

    We don't have a dog but I wonder if a dog could also be a distraction while your son is trying to eat. Our son eats well but he has a problem if there is too much excitement or other interesting things going on around him at meal time. For this reason we minimize things that would be distracting so he can focus on eating. At 14-months your son is probably still very interested in the "cause and effect" of things--so when he drops food on the floor and then the dog comes and eats it--that in itself is probably a fun game. If I were you, I would put the dog in the other room or keep the dog out of sight while your son is eating and see how things go then. My son doesn't get dessert if he doesn't eat his food. At 14-months, whether children are verbalizing or not, they understand very well a stern "no" so it's not too soon to start using it.


  7. #7
    carang's Avatar
    carang is offline Registered User
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    sleuth wouldn't like our house very much as i agree that it is never too early to start teaching good manners.

    spitting, throwing, playing with toys are not allowed at our house. we use the time to talk to each other about our day etc. depending on the time of dinner (it varies from day to day for us), we sometimes allow the kids favourite tv show to play while dinner is being eaten.

    to me, dinner is not about "fun". it is about nutrition and communicating with the family. (which i guess could be fun?)

    personally, i love to eat in restaurants. i have NEVER been one not to go out because we have kids. i'm not fussy if a place is too "kid friendly" as i expect my children to act a certain way. if they don't know their manners going in, it is much more difficult to teach at 2 or 3 years of age.

    of course, my children are not saints and they have good days and bad days. my daughter recently (about 4 months ago) went through a spitting food out stage. during that time, we didn't go out at all. we told her firmly, "no" and took her food away when she did it. it didn't take long for her to learn the consequences of her behaviour and she quickly modified it so she could finish her dinner.


  8. #8
    geomum is offline Registered User
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    Cara, if your daughter is being naughty at dinner time and you take her plate away then does she go to bed hungry?


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