10 tips for dealing with kids who can’t sit still while eating

Prepare a set of special tableware for your child

Adults' bowls, chopsticks and forks are not suitable for children. Using large and heavy cups or bowls filled with juice or milk will make children feel oppressed and affect their appetite. Children should not use sharp forks and fragile cutlery to avoid accidents. Children's tableware is more suitable for children. You can take your children to buy it and let them choose their favorite tableware to promote their interest in eating.

Notify your child to eat 10 minutes earlier

If a child is having fun and is suddenly interrupted, he or she will inevitably feel angry, rebellious and rejecting. Therefore, even when facing a 2-year-old child, you should tell him or her in advance what is going to be done, and then give him or her buffer time to clean up the toys and prepare for the meal.

Eat less snacks

Eating small meals frequently is the most beneficial eating method for children, but the portion of snacks outside of regular meals should not be too large, lest the children cannot eat at the regular meal. Also, choose foods with high nutritional value as snacks and avoid eating "junk" food. Do you think that if you just ate a cup of yogurt and a bag of potato chips at 4 pm, would you still sit down and eat dinner at 5 pm?

Let the children help

In order to satisfy children's desire to learn, mothers can ask their children to help before meals, such as tidying up the table, setting up the dishes and chopsticks, etc. In this way, children will be full of anticipation for meals, and the possibility of sitting down to eat obediently will increase.

Change your cooking method

The reason why children cannot sit still while eating is not necessarily because the food tastes bad. Sometimes it is because the cooking method is unacceptable to the children. So you might as well change the cooking methods frequently, such as steaming or braising, to give your children a sense of freshness. In addition, most children like brightly colored food. If the food is made gray, it will be difficult to attract children to sit down and eat. In addition, children will not like food that is too cold or too hot.

Add more foods that your child likes to your meals

Although a balanced intake of various foods can help children grow and develop healthily, children should not be forced to eat. You can start with the foods your child likes to eat, and then gradually add other or new foods from a small amount to a large amount, so that your child can accept all kinds of food. This way you can discover more foods that your child likes to eat. As long as the diet is more varied, children will naturally be happy to sit down and eat peacefully. For example, if children like to eat tofu and beans very much, you can often add some tofu or beans to the dishes when trying new dishes, so that the children will be more receptive to them.

Teach your children to use chopsticks

Many children who cannot sit still while eating are fed by their parents, so after the child is three years old, parents can teach him to use chopsticks, learn to eat by himself, and make it easier for him to sit still. Children under three years old should also learn to eat by themselves with a spoon. If they can finish the food by themselves, they will have a sense of success, and their interest in eating will gradually increase. Although at the beginning the table was covered with rice grains and my face and body were a mess, it was a necessary start.

Don't scold your children at the dinner table

The atmosphere during meals should be relaxed so that the children can feel comfortable. Mothers should never try every possible means, even going to great lengths, to get their children to eat one more bite. Don’t always rush to ask: “Do you want to eat more?” If the child says, “I’m full,” parents should not force him to eat anymore. In this way, he can slowly understand what it means to be full. I won’t run out after taking just a few bites of food.

Make your child hungry

Sometimes a child won't sit down to eat because he's not hungry. So, find a way to make him feel hungry. When the child takes a few bites and runs away, parents can calmly say, "Okay, kid, you're full," and then take the bowl away, not caring how much he has left. After a few times, the child will know that he will go hungry if he doesn't sit down and eat. This method sounds simple, but it is not easy to do, because parents must first harden their hearts and not always worry about their children being hungry and give them snacks, which would be counterproductive.

Give more praise

Don't forget to praise your child when he can sit still and eat. Or after dinner, mom and dad can play with him for a while as a reward, so that he can have happy memories of eating and will not be averse to eating in the future. Parents should also consciously instill in their children ideas like "eat well, grow faster and become smarter".