Slow Eater

[Pipsqueak]

and I mean slooooowwww

What do you think is an acceptable amount of time before you start chivving them/take food away?

A is older than my son and he eats his food in 1/4 of the time it takes A. She plays with it, pushes it around with her fingers, if its a sandwich it gets dissected, the butter is licked of (this drives me potty). Honest, it can take her over an hour to eat one sandwich, two carrot batons and we haven't even got to dessert (guess what we have had today!). Evening mealtimes are no better - it can take up to an hour and a half (all the other kids have finished a got down from the table as I think its unfair to make them wait there all that time). I give A the same amount as I give my son, I have tried reducing the portion size (this is the child at the age of 3 gets fed by dad to get her to eat), she puts minicsule amounts on her spoon/fork and licks it of. It drives me nuts.

[littlestar]

oh golly my neice is like that it drives me mad i just leave her to it but she chews and chews and plays with it her mum is so soft she chews it so much she gets bored and her mum normally lets her spit it out :panic: i just tell her to get on with it or there will be no pud and if she really gets anoying i feed her it and every spoonfull i say well done last bit nearly done bad aint i but ill be dambed if i gonna cook what she asks for and she leaves thye whole lot or spits it out :panic:

[Heaven Scent]

I agree if we have to spend time cooking from scratch and provide expensive healthy food then I'll be damned if I'm going to throw it away. My 3 year old mindee was like that when she came to me but I stuck to my guns and although she is slow I make her sit and eat it even if its not her favourite I wouldn't be bad enough to make her eat what makes her feel ill but do make her eat most things and I do the same with my friends 2 who annoy the hell out of me because they run rings around their mum at meal times I tell them its babyish not to eat you dinner up and I tell the 8 year old its rude not to eat a meal someone has cooked for you especially you mum because its done by her with love.

Celine:angry: :angry: :angry:

[sarah707]

We sit together and eat and once everyone is finished, I take the food away. They can always have fruit later, but they obviously don't want what I've provided and it's better than driving myself potty which is what I used to do.

I don't like things like licking butter off or disecting sandwiches etc though - I ask them to eat sensibly please and end up sounding like a stuck record! :rolleyes:

[sarah32]

I have a 2 year old like that, I get her lunch up first and then sort out the other kids as she takes so long to eat her food. She puts the smallest amount of food in her mouth. I give her a sandwich and she takes it apart and licks of the butter and leaves the rest. Ive had to say to her a few times thats shes not getting a yoghurt until shes at least tried to eat some more food. I dont like to see waste.:mad:

Luckily its not my food wasted as mum supplies but half the food she give me for her she wont eat.

My bin gets full so much quicker since I had her.

[marion]

Iv'e got a4yr old exactlly the same heaven knows how he gets on at school. He puts the smallest amount on his fork chews it at least million times before he swallows it. Mind you its no wonder when he still has a bottle and sits ina high chair at home!.

[crazybones]

I have a 2 year old like that, I get her lunch up first and then sort out the other kids as she takes so long to eat her food. She puts the smallest amount of food in her mouth. I give her a sandwich and she takes it apart and licks of the butter and leaves the rest. Ive had to say to her a few times thats shes not getting a yoghurt until shes at least tried to eat some more food. I dont like to see waste.:mad:

Luckily its not my food wasted as mum supplies but half the food she give me for her she wont eat.

My bin gets full so much quicker since I had her.

I would put the uneaten food back in bag and present it to mum so she knows what is being left. This is what they do in my son's school now and I was extremely suprised by what was coming home and realised I was probably being lazy with what I was giving him.

Annie x

[Pipsqueak]

I have sent food home and mum goes along with the bit if A doesn't eat here then she gets nothing else (banana and milk) etc...

Little monkey decided not play with her food, slopping it everywhere tonight, I took it away (she hadn't eaten one mouthful by the time everyone else had finished their puds).
As daddy walked in she before I could even say hi, she told him I have eaten all my dinner. I quickly cut in that it wasn't nice to tell fibs and then I told dad. A asked Daddy for sweeties, he said no, A then proceeded to throw the most almighty strop, kicking, squealing and screaming. I stopped her from going up the stairs and she hit out at me and tried to kick my son and her brother as they came down the stairs.

Daddy picked her up kicking and screaming and plonked her in the car.

(On a slightly different note I am over the moon that she has done this - the strop, in front of dad as I sometimes think that he doesn't believe a word I say!)

So how long would you say its acceptable before you take the food away, 20 minutes, 45minutes. When everyone else has finished??? When they first start playing with the food?? Just how much encouragement (discouragement from playing with) do you give??

All in the days work of a minder eh?

[sarah707]

So how long would you say its acceptable before you take the food away, 20 minutes, 45minutes. When everyone else has finished??? When they first start playing with the food?? Just how much encouragement (discouragement from playing with) do you give??

When they start playing with their food I start sounding like a stuck record... when everyone else is finished, we all wipe hands and faces, get up and say thank you for our meal... :D

[Spangles]

Thank goodness it's not just me! I hate bad table manners and licking food off sandwich and forks and picking sandwiches to bits and touching other people's food and talking (I obviously mean eating!!! Ha ha!) with mouth open, bla, bla, bla! I absolutely can't bear it!! Drives me mad!

I just sound like naggy old witch when it happens. I've had two mindees like that now and it's just awful! I don't have either of them for meals now thank goodness. You have my complete sympathy. I've had the slowness thing too and it drives me potty as well!

I am so relieved that it's not just me!

[miffy]

I have a four year old who's a very slow eater she's not picky will eat most things just incredibly slowly and she's very easily distracted

After half an hour I usually take the food away as its gone cold and she is usually messing around with it by then

Don't think there's any right or wrong answer to this Vik but it does drive me bonkers!

Miffy xx

[Spangles]

What do her parents do about it?

Sorry, if you've answered this already I'm flitting about tonight between the Forum and paperwork!

[Pipsqueak]

Her parants say she is a "grazer" . There was a thread about this the other day wasn't there.

If she refuses to eat her meal here (for reasons other than a genuine I am feeling poorly) then mum now (says) that she doesn't get anything else at home other than a bit of fruit and a drink. We have been through this situation before but if I say to the parents about her being a slow eater I get told its because she prefers to "graze".

I try not to rush any child through a meal/food as I know some children have different eating habits but A's habits are infuriating (the licking and dissecting and flicking food of the plate for me are the worst, I too end up sounding like a broken record). But on the other hand I hate to think the parents are wasting their money, not to mention the time and effort I have spent preparing the meal/food and the effect it has on everyone else at the table.

A is 3half and myson just turned 3, A is the same size as a 5yr old Son has always been quite a poor eater due to various problems and his weight is an issue so its important I get him to eat, he is the size of an 18month) and they have the same portions (I have tried reducing the size of hers to no avail) and he always manages to finish his meal and dessert before she is even half way through her meal. She expects to be fed a lot of the time as well (thanks Dad!).

Perhaps there is no right or wrong to this but how long do I expect everyone else to sit at the table - am I wrong in letting them get down from the table if she is still dragging her heels through the main course?

[Tily Bud]

Glad its not just me that has problems like this x

I have one little girl who starts her lunch at the same time as the other mindees, by the time they have finished theirs she still has most of hers left :rolleyes: must admit it used to drive me nuts but now i dont let it bother me x

[button68]

I don't like things like licking butter off or disecting sandwiches etc though - I ask them to eat sensibly please and end up sounding like a stuck record! :rolleyes:

Do you know what I was just thinking about this today. Manners which are clearly acceptable at mindees homes that drive me mad :angry:

Don't get me wrong my 2 are far from perfect but mindee J age 2 eats with his fingers in his mouth - as he is chewing the food :eek: His hands are covered slobber rolling down his wrists :mad: I am a stuck record with "J take your fingers out your mouth please" or "fingers out" - I know he is only 2 but I would have never let this start with my 2. Obviously it is never mentioned at home.

Mindee S (sister of J) plays with her food constantly fidgets in her chair gets down when my back is turned :angry: and is very, very picky :panic:

This afternoon we went into the cafe of the urban farm and I had at cuppa and a slice of home made carrot cake :blush: and the kids had a home made ginger bread man - I noticed S absolutely 'necked' it, it didn't touch the sides. I think that at home she gets away with murder - leaves meals but gets pudding.

Gosh!! What a gas bag I am :blush: