Kids and Eating

This is not a post about how to get your child to eat because frankly, there are tons of other articles on the interwebs about it and I don't want to fight that battle 3 times a day with E. So I try to relax and go with feedback from E on whether he is hungry or full. But we do want him to get used to sitting together at the dining table and having meals as a family so even if he is full, we ask him to sit until everyone is done.

However, some days it's a losing battle for me because 3 year olds just aren't meant to sit nicely at the table all prim and proper. Some days, I feed E as he runs by me pretending to be Iron Man, or a jousting knight in a tourney or sometimes he just wants to run laps up and down the dining area.

So lately E has been pulling a stunt (usually at dinner) where he will eat 2 - 3 bites of food and say he is full so that he can leave the table and play, then when everyone else is done eating and we've moved on to bath time and getting ready for bed he will say,' I'm so hungry! I'm so really hungry, mama!' Then I usually tell him to drink water and go to sleep because the next meal is breakfast when the sun comes up.

I feel pretty horrible saying that to him because as a mother of course I do not want my kid to be hungry! But then again, I'm worried that if I give in now then he will be asking for food at all times of the night and bedtime will go haywire.

This has been going on for a couple months now and I hope E gets the message soon because I love watching him eat his meals happily and be full afterwards.

On a positive note, E tried liver pate from Brotzeit at Star Vista and really liked it. He was eating it off my fork and asking for more when it was finished.

Edit to say that this post was inspired by what I overheard a grandmother saying to her granddaughter in the lift recently. It was very similar to a conversation that I've had with E many a time over the past few months as he grows older and more aware of how yummy 'junk' foods can be!

I've re-constructed the conversation below, please allow for some dramatic license as my memory never really was very good!

Granddaughter: I'm so hungry! 

Grandmother: But you told me you were full and did not want to eat your pasta for lunch? And you had that biscuit and muffin earlier, are you really hungry now?

Granddaughter: Yes! I'm hungry now! 

Grandmother: You've got to be kidding me. Well, we are going to get some yummy cupcakes from the shop upstairs, would you like a cupcake then? 

Granddaughter: Ok!

Reminds me of my never-ending battle to get E to eat more whole foods (e.g. rice, meat, fish, veggies etc) instead of snacks and processed foods.