Eating Habits – Hints

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Hints

General advice for eating with young children:

Take into consideration that your toddler may be tired and not hungry. At this age, children are not conscious of their needs and wishes. They are also not able to communicate them. Thus, your toddler may only want to express: I am not hungry, but I am very interested in my environment. Oh, there are very interesting things here! And I can do a lot of things with them!
Therefore, don’t take the actions of your toddler personally: He does not intentionally want to cause you more work.

If you believe that you can no longer cope with your toddler’s behavior, get out of the situation. Don’t fight about eating: If your child doesn’t want to eat now, maybe he wants to eat later. Take the dish away and tell him that you will try again later when he may be hungry.

Always be aware that your toddler’s behavior is never meant to annoy you. So, don’t get furious! Try to stay calm!