My kid has no table manners

[librarychica]

So my 7yo is seemingly always ravenous. She is also bad a silverware, I remind her to eat with a fork, she picks up fork, 30 seconds later she’s eating with her fingers. She hops up and down from the table. She ends up with food all over herself, the floor, etc. it’s a mess. I hate to yell at her every meal but I do get frustrated. Any ideas other than repeating myself every 30 seconds?

[186momx]

DD (7)just stopped sitting in her booster seat at the table (low back booster she has used since 18 months). I found when she would sit in a normal chair she made a mess and just couldn't sit nicely. She loves to sit on the edge of the chair with her feet on the floor like a wall sit. Staying in the booster forced her to sit correctly at the table. DD always has loved using silverware so no help there.

To stop the getting up and down I would explain that she needs to sit at the table the entire time she is eating and after 3 times of getting up she will be done. Then give 3 warnings. The 4th time she got up meal time is over. After a few weeks I would drop the warnings down to 2 and so forth.

How does lunch go at school? The lunches I've join DD with the kids are a mess and silverware isn't a thing with most of the school lunches. DD looks like an alien with her fork and dish of food but doesn't seem to mind.

[waverly]

We had table rules posted on a piece of paper on the wall so I would say things like what’s rule #1?

DS is distracted, messy, can’t sit still, etc. it did get better with his OT and PT since some of it was due to his lack of coordination.

[k3am]

librarychica, I'm no help because I occasionally forgot to send DD with a spoon to school to eat her yogurt and she proudly told me she ate it like a cat.

My kids don't actually eat at home often, so dinner manners is just trying to force them to sit at the table without screaming for 5-10 minutes.

[librarychica]

waverly, I assume they are fine. I mean, I am sure they are a barely-civilized mess as elementary lunches are but I haven’t heard anything one way or another.

Come to think of it, she ate with a placement, fork and knife for years at her preschool/Kindy and she was still a mess at the dinner table. It may just take at home practice.

I might post some basic rules and try the warnings method.

[2chatter]

This is the first year DD hasn’t been shirtless at the dinner table at all.

She’s 11.

Some kids are just trainwrecks.

[librarychica]

Jan 29, 2019 21:54:53 GMT -5 2chatter said:

This is the first year DD hasn’t been shirtless at the dinner table at all.

She’s 11.

Some kids are just trainwrecks.

Oh yes! She does the naked thing too. Kid is always partly naked.

Hellions.

[campermom]

Jan 29, 2019 21:56:11 GMT -5 librarychica said:

Jan 29, 2019 21:54:53 GMT -5 2chatter said:

This is the first year DD hasn’t been shirtless at the dinner table at all.

She’s 11.

Some kids are just trainwrecks.

Oh yes! She does the naked thing too. Kid is always partly naked.

Hellions.

so I’m not the only one!

DS is in his underwear as soon as he hits the door!

[2chatter]

I even bought her a white T-shirt! Short sleeves. She’s still not ready for white long sleeves that she drags across her work, through her food, on the side of the dirty car....

[mae0111]

My kids have no manners either. Lots of eating with hands and speed like they’re in prison. Or sometimes st the speed of a glacier and dinner is 2 hours long. And DD2 HAAAAAATES clothes. Our house is cold so she does keep them on once dressed, but after shower/tub it’s realky difficult to convince her to put on clothes. She sleeps in underwear year round - fleece sheets and under a million blankets.

Solidarity.

[mommyatty]

I’m just impressed your kids eat food you prepare. My kids eat like 4 different things. Pizza, chicken nuggets, rotisserie chicken, and hot dogs. Screw utensils. I’d let them eat like cavemen if they would just eat actual food.

[mae0111]

DD1 eats next to nothing. Pizza, pasta, bread, cheese. Chicken, but only Bell&Evans Coconut Chicken fingers. Only carrots, no other veggies. Fruits - strawberries, apples, pineapple, bananas.

DD2 eats a lot of things, but doesn’t like meat, chicken, or fish. Loves veggies and fruits. But it’s still limiting. No sauces. Veggies all plain and raw.

Tonight I’m roasting a chicken and there will be BIG FIGHTS about dinner. With DD2 I just load her up with veggies and she’s fine. DD1 - much tougher.

[phdmomma]

We had to make a rule at dinner, where the kids have to try all of the food, and eat a reasonable portion of at least one thing. Or there will be no more food for the rest of the day. DH is stupidly picky, and it rubs off on the kids.

The kids like utensils, so that isn’t too bad. Dd who is 4 stared shunning her booster at 2.5, and like to kneel on her chair.

[traveltheworld]

My kids eat a very balanced diet, but one takes an hour to eat, and the other one (3.5) still gets fed at most meals. It's my secret shame - I know I should just insist on her feeding herself, but ever since her failure to thrive diagnosis at age 1.5, we've always fed her; and I just can't kick the habit.

So yup, meals with kids is never fun.

[mellym]

We do the same as phdmomma. I'm not a short order cook so they eat what we make and it will stay on the table if they're hungry later. No snacks/treats unless they finished their dinner.

We have the same problem with DD1 getting up from the table and eating with her fingers. She's the oldest but is the hardest to wrangle. We've started counting her to three for getting up and that helps. DD2 follows whatever she does so it's important for her to be a good example. I've been at her school for lunch and they are super strict so I know she behaves well there. I saw a K kid get removed to sit by himself for spilling milk. I remind her to use utensils once if I notice it but then let it go as long as she's eating.