Every single day for every single meal it was a battle to keep the girls in their seats while we were eating. I HATED having to repeat myself over and over and over again every breakfast, lunch and dinner for the girls to just sit the fuck down. Of course, I used my manners and didn't drop the F bomb around my little parrots... Other than maybe once or twice to myself under my breath as my eyes glossed over with tears of frustration.
I googled "How to keep toddlers at the dinner table." A lot.
I tried implementing the "When you get up, you're telling me that you're finished" rule, but that seemed to work better in their favor as lots of veggies and other "yucky" stuff was left uneaten.
I tried taking away snacks so that maybe by lunch and dinnertime they'd be so hungry that they would want to sit at the table and eat all of their food, but that backfired; we all ended up cranky and frustrated.
I tried the "Kids will eat when they're hungry; don't force it," way, but... THIS AIN'T DENNY'S!
Later that day when we were at home eating dinner and the girls got up, I told them, "Sit down. You were not excused; you didn't say the magic words."
"Magic words?!" they asked, grinning.
So I explained very matter-of-factly that if they wanted to get up from the table, they must first ask, "May I be excused, please?"
Eagerly they sat down; "MAY I BE EXCUSED, PLEASE!?" in unison with big fat smiles on their faces.
"No. You haven't finished your dinner yet."
And that was that! Magic words.
Whether or not they actually eat all or any of their dinner is a complete toss up, but "if they're hungry, they'll eat" and they have plenty of time to do so as we're all sitting down at the table together and enjoying our meal as a family. Huge victory. I'd say the "magic words" have about a 90% success rate.
One thing that I know McKenna will gobble up for sure is Egg Mice.
She loves hard-boiled eggs and picked this recipe out of one her kid-friendly cookbooks, which I modified slightly.
Egg Mice
Ingredients:
1 hard-boiled egg
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Salt, pepper to taste
Matchstick carrots
Slivered almonds
Directions:
Slice the hard-boiled egg in half and scoop out the yolk; mix with mayo, mustard, salt and pepper. Fill the yolk mixture back into the egg white and place the flat side down on the plate.
Then, poke one matchstick carrot into one end of the egg for the tail and on the opposite side, use a paring knife to make slits for the slivered almonds, which will be the ears.
Serve with cheese and fruit for a super fun, well-rounded meal for your toddler. :-D
Later that day when we were at home eating dinner and the girls got up, I told them, "Sit down. You were not excused; you didn't say the magic words."
"Magic words?!" they asked, grinning.
So I explained very matter-of-factly that if they wanted to get up from the table, they must first ask, "May I be excused, please?"
Eagerly they sat down; "MAY I BE EXCUSED, PLEASE!?" in unison with big fat smiles on their faces.
"No. You haven't finished your dinner yet."
And that was that! Magic words.
Whether or not they actually eat all or any of their dinner is a complete toss up, but "if they're hungry, they'll eat" and they have plenty of time to do so as we're all sitting down at the table together and enjoying our meal as a family. Huge victory. I'd say the "magic words" have about a 90% success rate.
One thing that I know McKenna will gobble up for sure is Egg Mice.
Egg Mice
Ingredients:
1 hard-boiled egg
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Salt, pepper to taste
Matchstick carrots
Slivered almonds
Directions:
Slice the hard-boiled egg in half and scoop out the yolk; mix with mayo, mustard, salt and pepper. Fill the yolk mixture back into the egg white and place the flat side down on the plate.
Then, poke one matchstick carrot into one end of the egg for the tail and on the opposite side, use a paring knife to make slits for the slivered almonds, which will be the ears.
Serve with cheese and fruit for a super fun, well-rounded meal for your toddler. :-D
