how long for lunch

[jellytot]

how long do you give the los to eat lunch or do you just let them stay until they are done.

i know at playgroup they get 45min, but 1 of my mindees would sit there all afternoon if i let her. i tend to give her about an hr before i say lunch time is over. she is 2 and has a packed lunch, she likes the food she has and also she is spending the whole time eating just doing it very slowly. although i do catch her daydreaming sometimes and sucking her food not chewing.

i never had this with my own 2 as they are fairly quick eaters admittingly sometimes too quick, but what would you do with this LO.

I have encouraged her to speed up, i have also just left her so as not to make a point of it.

[Rasharoon]

When I had two four year olds - with the parents permission - we would have lunch lasting 25 minutes. I did this amount of time as this was in accordance with the school where they have packed lunch so wanted them to get used to the timeframe they would have at school. I kept an ELC teaching clock on the table, and moved it on every five minutes. It did the trick as now I'm a lunchtime supervisor at the school, I see that they have eaten everything to then go out to play.
Just a shame it takes my 5 year old best part of an hour to eat an evening meal!!

[sarah707]

We all sit together and eat together... and wait until everyone is finished.

I don't set a time but after a reasonable length of time waiting, I take the plate away with a smile and bring in the next course.

I never get cross or ask a child to hurry up... counter productive I've found.

Just move them on to the next course and there's always fruit or toast if they're hungry later after the school run :D

[angeldelight]

We all sit together and eat together... and wait until everyone is finished.

I don't set a time but after a reasonable length of time waiting, I take the plate away with a smile and bring in the next course.

I never get cross or ask a child to hurry up... counter productive I've found.

Just move them on to the next course and there's always fruit or toast if they're hungry later after the school run :D



We do the same

I would hate meal time to become an ordeal for a child

Angel xx

[miffy]

We all sit together and eat together... and wait until everyone is finished.

I don't set a time but after a reasonable length of time waiting, I take the plate away with a smile and bring in the next course.

I never get cross or ask a child to hurry up... counter productive I've found.

Just move them on to the next course and there's always fruit or toast if they're hungry later after the school run :D

Same here - after all a hot meal will get cold and that's not nice too eat.

I might also try not giving her everything in her lunch box at one go - she could always have the rest as a snack later

Miffy xx

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Meal times are relaxed but they all wait at the table until the others are finihsed. The quick eaters are quick to prompt the others.

When my younger ones are starting to get ready for school I do set the timer on the microwave for 45 minutes and then get shorter and shorter until 20mins. Once the ping goes off then dinner is finished.

By the time they go to school they are quicker at eating and don't come home with lots in their lunch boxes.

[hillbilly]

HI

I think you are doing all the right things. Give her encouragement, praising her when she is eating well, and save some of her packed lunch for a snack later.

[jellytot]

i have tried all that. dad has agreed to just give her half hr. other day she only ate half her sandwich!!!!!!!!!

all i can hope is she will get used to it,

thanks for your help

[Heaven Scent]

I think we are all giving children far too much to eat at one sitting and it sounds to me as though the parents are putting far too much into the lo's packed lunch. A childs stomach is only the size of their fist and that is the size of any one portion of food we should give them - they should have more little and often. I know that thre LO may be a day dreamer but if she is over faced with the quantity of food then it may be causing her mental problems about how to cop with this huge quantity.

The trick is to offer small amounts of nutritious food with some carbohydrate and fiber for bulk to keep them full. I got a really useful poster on thre organix website which gives an excellent guide to portion sizes for fruit and veg for children, I think they do one for other foods also.

I fall into this catagory but I am trying to re-train my thinking - I'm Irish which doesn't help with the fact that I am inclined to offer other people huge portions of food - it in my breeding - I just can't help it.