I have a question for all you mommies/aunties/grandmas, etc. out there. I have a 3 year old who is a typical 3 year old in most ways, especially when it comes to eating.
So my question to you is how do you determine when your child is really full versus when they just want to get down and play?
My dilemma is this: I don't want to teach Miss P bad eating habits by forcing her to finish her plate when she is not hungry. I also don't want her to think that if she doesn't eat her breakfast/lunch/diner when it's time, that she can make up for eat it by eating a jillion snacks instead. But she is a super skinny girl, and I know that can be just as unhealthy as being overweight.
So what do you mommies do? I really want to know!
4 comments:
I am not a mommy, but I am a nanny for 2 year old twins. I can tell you what we do.
They get 4 meals a day. Breakfast at 7, lunch at 11:30-12, snack at 3 and dinner at 5:30.
They don't snack during the day. If they don't eat at the meal, they make up for it the next meal.
We don't play the what do you want to eat game and offer 50,000 choices. They get a plate, and they can eat it or not. That is it.
Kids won't starve. They will eat when hungry. If they don't want to eat breakfast, I make sure they know they won't get food again until it is lunch time.
Do they come to me at 10:30 those days and tell me they are hungry. Sometimes. But they survive and eat a good lunch! :-D
Because of my major I kinda know about some of child eating habits, not that I'm an expert or anything, but kids always know when they're full. So regardless if they get down to play or not it's usually because they aren't hungry anymore. Kids should get about 1/3 of the calories from snacking anyways. You serve them breakfast lunch and dinner (same as everyone else in the house) and they will eat what they want. I wouldn't worry too much! I think she's just fine and adorable as ever if I might add! :) hope that helped!
Thank you both! That is excellent advice. I pretty much figured she just wasn't hungry, but since she's so skinny, I kind of worried about it. But I guess if her doctor says she's ok, then I shouldn't worry!! :)
I really try to determine things based on what they have already eaten for the day. Mylie is a terrible eater. She rather play. If she eats a huge lunch then I figure dinner will pretty much be out of the question. I'll still put a small portion on her plate on the chance she will eat.
We also have a rule that even though YOU are done eating, you may NOT leave the table until EVERYONE is done eating. That way, even if they do want to play they can't until everyone is done. That way we can still talk and the food is still sitting there and sometimes they do eat it.
Third, I don't throw their plates away when dinner is done. When they come to me at 9 at night telling me they are starving I warm up their plates and they have the rest of their dinner. If my other kids already ate their dinner then they get a snack. Even if the one that didn't eat, still has their plate of food they don't get the snack until the plate of food is gone.
It works for us and I don't feel like they are starving. My kids are skinny too but sometimes they just aren't hungry.
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