14 Month Old Throwing Food

[Matty]

Agree that it's never too early to teach manners.
I've never tolerated spitting or throwing food, and I must admit, a bit too harshly, it's a fine line even with playing with food.

As a result, my 3yr old has table manners, which is very pleasant.

I'm going through the same thing now with my 1 yr old.
Once he starts dropping food on the floor, I know he's lost interest and take the food away.

[carang]

my daughter learned very quickly that i would take the food away. she was abotu 2 years old when she started the behaviour. it only lasted for about 2-4 weeks.

we took the food away. about an hour later, we would offer fruit. that way, the line had been drawn.

however, with my son, we have put him to bed hungry (or so he says). it's only happened once or twice. he's old enough to understand the consequences (4.5)

[dhirsh]

Thank you so much to everyboby for your opinions. It is so interesting to hear different views from people actually facing the same dilemas. I learn a lot from all of you.

[Sleuth]

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?)

Okay, wrongidea. We don't spit food nor do we play with toys and no TV. However, the eating experience is not like being at a military school either. Again, a fine line and tough to draw and have it apply with every meal.

[Nic]

My daughter is 16months and playing with food si the one thing(well there may be one or two others) that I really cant tolerate. She is still not great with using a fork and spoon and therefore using her hands is fine but as soon as she starts picking it up and dropping it over the side of her chair or rubbing it into her clothes she gets one warning (if she is really hungry she will stop playing and start trying to get as much food in her mouth as possible in case it really is removed) and if the warning is ignored she is out of the highchair, food gone asap.

I am paranoid about her going to bed hungry though so Carang said I will offer her fruit a little later.

I really believe she knows full well what she is doing is wrong and therefore I find it important to act

[thanka2]

My daughter is 16months and playing with food si the one thing(well there may be one or two others) that I really cant tolerate. She is still not great with using a fork and spoon and therefore using her hands is fine but as soon as she starts picking it up and dropping it over the side of her chair or rubbing it into her clothes she gets one warning (if she is really hungry she will stop playing and start trying to get as much food in her mouth as possible in case it really is removed) and if the warning is ignored she is out of the highchair, food gone asap.

I am paranoid about her going to bed hungry though so Carang said I will offer her fruit a little later.

I really believe she knows full well what she is doing is wrong and therefore I find it important to act

Good for you! I totally agree with this approach, sans one thing, we never offer my son anything different later--if he is still hungry later, he will get a reheated version of the original meal. I don't want him to learn that he can get out of eating dinner and then get a sweet snack later when he's hungry--that comes from my mom--she was like that with us and I think it was a good thing.

[geomum]

Does anyone has a solution to this, my daughter spits out fruits anytime they are offered. Banana is the only fruit she loves but everything else I puree and add to her cereal. I've tried being very firm with her but hasn't helper at all. Any ideas???

[babymommy2]

I didn't allow throwing food at all, if you throw told no, and if it happened again, food was gone. I found hunger was not a problem, becasue they only threw the food after they had eaten and they were "playing" rather than eating. I had no problem making a mess and using hands to eat, as long as the food stayed on the tray.