Monday, 1 October 2007

I H.A.T.E. mealtimes

Even though I've taught the girls not to use the word 'hate' and instead use 'dislike', I really hate the girls' mealtimes with a vengeance. More of Lavigne's than Louisa's. You see, I have to keep telling them to 'eat', 'sit properly', 'get back on your chair', etc etc etc. Lavigne fidgets alot. She will have her legs up on her chair, or she'll face the back of the chair or worse still go onto her bicycle or scooter in the middle of mealtimes. I've tried many methods. Bribing - 'if you finish you meal, you will get to eat _____', stickers as housepoints, setting a reasonable time for her to finish (health visitor said 20min is more than enough, I give her 45min), no food/snacks threats or simply taking her food away. I get so stressed up at the dinner table. I'd have finished with my food and then just sit there and nag. A waste of my time and energy. I'd been asked before what's wrong with feeding them. Simple answer. One's 3 and the other's 5! They are no longer babies. No way am I going to feed them! If they fidget and are not interested in eating, then perhaps they are not hungry. Once we start spoon feeding them on a regular basis, they will rely on that and won't eat themselves. I worked so hard to get Lavigne to self feed eversince she turned one so I will not go back to those spoon feeding days. They don't get to snack much in between meals. I'd already reduced their snacks to just fruits or one or two biscuits. I don't know what's the problem. Apparently, I'm not alone. Some of my friends are facing the same problem.

6 comments:

Eileen Liu Kim Ying said...

thank god my mother is the one in charge of feeding faith( most of the times cos i am working ).

faith likes to eat one mouthful and ran away to play with this and that.

my mother has a lot of patience. she always says you have to coax children into eating.

Anonymous said...

Oh no... Ros, you make me guilty... I'm still surcumbing to feeding J sometimes... especially if the food is hot... and it's really stressful trying to get her to eat (what we think is) enough... *pat* *pat* hang in there...

Roslyn said...

Eileen,
Problem with me is I have little patience.

Jen,
Everyone has different ways to parenting. I'm sorry I made you feel guilty, it's just my way of raising my kids and I'm not saying parents shouldn't feed their children. I'm sure you're doing what suits you.

Saggs said...

I'm on the other end of the spectrum! Danielle loves to eat?!! She seems to be hungry all the time and I find myself trying to ration her food! I totally sympahthise with your situation - it's not easy! I read to danielle during mealtimes, I don't know whether it's a bad habit but I've found that it keeps her concentrated during mealtimes (not that she needs it! Faint.) Wanna give it a go?

Roslyn said...

Saggs,
I think my girl will be more interested to ask me 'why this' and 'why that' to the story and discuss about the storyline rather than eat her food. But it's interesting though and I'm willing to give it a shot. Thanks for the tip!
Look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Anonymous said...

Ros, no lah... guilty as in I should continue to try than give in... =P

I am trying to work towards getting her to eat the entire meal herself... definitely wun want to feed her for the rest of her life!! Just that she gives up halfway sometimes and plays with her food...