Pretty much the title. I think me + my husband really messed up in terms of not setting a dinner routine earlier on. Our work schedules used to not allow for many family dinners. But recently that has changed and we are trying to do sit-down meals at the table together most nights at a consistent time. I am also trying to expand what foods I offer to my toddler. I really worry about the lack of fruits and veggies in his diet. I usually put 1-2 things for him on his plate that I know he'll eat, along with some other new stuff.
The issues now are that he usually will not stay in a chair at the table (will freak out and whine and/or run away when we tell him he needs to stay seated) and/or he will sit at dinner but refuse to eat ANYTHING. I don't know what to do here. Time out until he is ready to come to the table and sit nicely. Tell him no tablet/tv after dinner unless he stays seated? These are the things we usually do but then of course the entirety of dinner is a huge power struggle. Maybe we just need to keep at this? We also obviously can't physically force him to eat food if he's at the table but I don't know how to deal with this either.
Then he asks for snacks after bath and/or wakes up in the middle of the night (I'm talking 2 or 3 a.m. complaining that he's reallllly hungry) and then refuses to go back to sleep...it will take hours of putting him back in his bed over and over whether or not we've given into giving him a snack at that time or not. We've started giving in on the snacks after bath when he asks (oftentimes food he didn't eat at dinner) because the waking/staying up in the middle of the night thing is just not sustainable. There is no consistency in how we are handling things right now. It's a mess.
I worry he doesn't eat enough in general, and healthy foods especially. I find myself giving into him when he's hungry because I just want him to eat SOMETHING but this is all a cluster right now and I could really use some guidance setting boundaries and routines here....something I've struggled to do in other areas but have gotten much better at. Thanks in advance for any ideas.
Evening!
I have an almost two year old cat who has no sense of self preservation when she knows I'm getting her dinner ready. Only at dinnertime, she gets in the dog's face and generally makes a nuisance of herself.
Any other time of day, the dog is indifferent to the cats and the cats feel the same about the dog. Whole everyone's dinner is being prepared, though, Esper insists on harassing the dog. She knows the dog doesn't like her that close. The dog has nipped at her several times to make a point.
Esper knows what the nips are about. She respects the dog's space all day. And then there's dinnertime.
I'd like to hear your thoughts. Anything I can do to stop this? Right now I'm using physical barriers or locking the cats away so I can give my attention to getting the food out of the can.
For context, I have two teen stepkids and a toddler. My teen stepkids seem to avoid sitting down to eat dinner with us at all costs. We used to call them down when dinner was ready and sometimes they would emerge from their rooms and eat with us. They would get really annoyed if my toddler was getting noisy at the dinner table and told me that they would prefer not to be around that. I respected their decision but my toddler is a lot better at dinnertime now so the noise isn't really a factor anymore. Sometimes they will come downstairs and eat but they will sit at the bar area and not come to the dinner table with my husband, myself, and toddler. I have tried to invite them over to sit down with us and they usually insist that they are fine. Then there are other times where they come downstairs to eat dinner (I will leave the food out) after my toddler goes to bed (and after my husband and I have eaten). My husband thinks that this is normal because they are teens but it just seems odd to me. Thoughts? What are meal times like in your household?
I have a family member who adores fruit - she'd live on nothing else if she could. Are there any restaurants around that have a substantial fruit plate available, particularly on a dinner menu (or at least available then)? Lots of places offer fruit for breakfast/brunch times, I'm looking for somewhere she could get her favourite meal when we go out for dinner. We eat tons of fresh fruit at home, but this would be a nice treat!
Suggestions appreciated, thank you!
I'm thinking Kraft Mac N Cheese. like at least 2/3 of the box, maybe the whole thing.
