Organizing mealtimes
Your child should be getting quite familiar with the social aspects of mealtimes but don't expect too much from him. It is very difficult for a child to concentrate on eating with a spoon, not spilling the drink, not making a mess and being quiet while eating at the table.
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He is trying to listen to what you are all saying, to participate in the conversation, and to concentrate on the food. He is trying to learn a great many new skills all at once, and viewed like this it is not surprising he can get a bit excitable, just to break the tension, and there are bound to be accidents. Again, be understanding and flexible.
Making mealtimes fun
- Ice cream cones don't have to be used just for ice cream. Fill one with cheese and tomato chopped together or a tuna fish salad. This means that you can give your three-year-old a snack on the move.
- Encourage your child to sometimes “build” his meal from sandwiches, cubes of cheese, vegetables and dried fruit. He could build a house or a car or a boat, and when it is finished eat it.
- If he wants to use a knife, give your child a plastic or blunt-ended one.
- Let your child use a straw for drinking sometimes. So that he won't tip the drink over cut the straw off so that there is no more than 5cm (2in) above the cup, or use a bendy straw.
- Be open to innovation and occasionally serve your child's meal on a doll's plate or on a flat toy.
- Fill a cake tin with lots of different finger foods such as cubes of cheese, bits of cold meat, raw vegetables, fruit and tiny sandwiches and let your child pick out what he wants.
New Babycare
Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley
Text copyright © 2009 Miriam Stoppard
Posted 03.11.2010
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