If you’re trying to get your child to sit still through a long, drawn out meal, then you’re probably not going to have much luck at all!
At toddler and preschooler age, your child has an attention span of around 15 minutes – maybe a little longer in older children. After that, your child is likely to get bored, and look for something interesting to do elsewhere. That means that even when your child is hungry, you’ve got a very limited time in which to make sure that he or she eats dinner. After that, you’ll be fighting a losing battle.
If you are eating at a restaurant, one idea is to order the children’s meals as soon as you order your starter – that way, your child can eat before the main course arrives, and you won’t be so worried about him or her not eating their food.
Meals at home can be a problem thanks to outside distractions. If the TV is on, or you have video games running in the background, your child’s already limited attention span will not be able to stay focused on food. It’s better, therefore, to rather remove or switch off external distractions.
Another common cause of not eating at dinner time is snacking to near to dinner. Rather than give your child a snack at 4 o’clock, and then battling to get your child to eat at 5 o’clock, rather make your child’s afternoon snack earlier, and he or she should be hungrier, and more likely to sit still, when it’s time to eat your evening meal.
At toddler and preschooler age, your child has an attention span of around 15 minutes – maybe a little longer in older children. After that, your child is likely to get bored, and look for something interesting to do elsewhere. That means that even when your child is hungry, you’ve got a very limited time in which to make sure that he or she eats dinner. After that, you’ll be fighting a losing battle.
If you are eating at a restaurant, one idea is to order the children’s meals as soon as you order your starter – that way, your child can eat before the main course arrives, and you won’t be so worried about him or her not eating their food.
Meals at home can be a problem thanks to outside distractions. If the TV is on, or you have video games running in the background, your child’s already limited attention span will not be able to stay focused on food. It’s better, therefore, to rather remove or switch off external distractions.
Another common cause of not eating at dinner time is snacking to near to dinner. Rather than give your child a snack at 4 o’clock, and then battling to get your child to eat at 5 o’clock, rather make your child’s afternoon snack earlier, and he or she should be hungrier, and more likely to sit still, when it’s time to eat your evening meal.
