Food chucking almost 3 y/o

[CeliaBowen]

DD2 is 2.10.

This last couple of weeks she has been making eye contact and tipping food from her plate onto the floor. Whole dinners. She is made to help clear it up, we have said "we don't do that" etc and have even resorted to moving her chair away from the table so she can't reach if she is being silly with her plate (after a warning).

It's often in response to something on the plate she doesn't like (not a problem before, we've always had a "if you don't like it you just leave it" policy).

She did it with MY food on Thursday, and a whole bowl of breakfast cereal with milk this morning - not certain why, I looked up from my breakfast to hear the splat as it hit the kitchen floor.

Anybody got any tips?

We are starting a reward chart on Monday for a couple of other things, so might add "good table behaviour" as one of them!

[JewelFairies]

When dd1 did this,my mum calmly stated that obviously dc wasn't hungry and removed the plate. I was but it 'cured' her instantly and my mum was right. Any child playing with food or tipping it over is not hungry. Plate is removed and no alternative offered. Do that two or three times and they get the message.
I think your dd is doing it for effect and you are pandering to her with threads, rewards etc. She's a bit young for all that 'if you don't do this you get a sticker' kind of business.

[Longdistance]

We do something similar. We threaten to throw it in the bin. Then met with further protests, we take the plate into the kitchen as if to throw it in the bin. We don't, we just take it for a walk.

Yes, we're harsh, but it bloody works!

[Longdistance]

We do something similar. We threaten to throw it in the bin. Then met with further protests, we take the plate into the kitchen as if to throw it in the bin. We don't, we just take it for a walk.

Yes, we're harsh, but it bloody works!

[CeliaBowen]

It's hard to throw it in the bin when it's gone already. I don't think you are harsh, long!

She doesn't get an alternative meal. I have had to put a lock on the fridge, as she would raid it for more food, so I think she is hungry, just testing the water and yes definitely doing it for effect, hence the point of my thread - how do others react to this kind of behaviour?

Saying "We don't throw food" and mopping removing the meal is quite measured, I would have thought? Is it really pandering? Surely that would be giving her cornflakes or whatever else instead?

What age would people say sticker charts might work? DD1 had one for staying in bed about the same age and it worked really well.

[CeliaBowen]

Sadly this has happened more than 2 or 3 times (lost count!) and she still hasn't got the message that chucking the food = hungry tummy. It just seems to mean chucking the food = whining that she is soooooo hungry!

She also checked with me today whether the spoon was also china and would that break if she threw it on the floor?! Little wotsit.

[JewelFairies]

Sorry, didn't mean to be nasty with the 'pandering' comment. What I meant was that I would not react, no eye contact, and ignore her pleas for food. No explanation either eg we don't do that, or explaining why she won't get anything else. Just calmly take stuff away and refuse to engage? Would this get boring for her?
(She sounds delightful by the way and very clever)
(Ps. Sticker charts didn't work at all for either of mine...)

[Alonglongway]

Could she just be testing boundaries and enjoying your reaction?

I agree she's young for a reward chart. I'd try warning and then swooping in fast and remove to naughty step - very calm and firm

[CeliaBowen]

I didn't take it as nasty, it's just hard to tell what's pandering and what isn't. Sometimes it helps for someone to point it out if you are. Delightful yes. Sometimes!

DD1 quickly lost interest in sticker charts but usually that was because we all forgot to do them and then the stickers turned up stuck on other things!

[CeliaBowen]

Ahh x-post with alongaway we don't use the naughty step. Not for any particular reason but found it had no effect on DD1 and then it wasn't part of the repertoire because we all got bored with it (can you see a pattern here?!)

I think the same would apply to DD2. Distraction is usually the weapon of choice, or has been, up to now...

[CeliaBowen]

Bump

[ChatEnOeuf]

DD did this once or twice, purely for effect, she's the same age as yours. The plate went away, I cleared up (no help from her, she likes to help), I finished my food and all the time she sat in her high chair and didn't have anything. When she started moaning for more food I calmly explained, 'you threw your food on the floor, your food is gone'. Couple of epic tantrums later she figured it out. She still picks things off her plate that she doesn't like, but at least they stay on the high chair now - we're still working on leaving it on the plate.

I don't think she's too young for stickers/rewards. DD gets a sticker if she stays in her bed all night, she's delighted when she gets one, and talks about it before bed.

[JewelFairies]

The only other thing I could suggest, and you may already be doing it anyway, is to give her quite a small plate and very small portion. If she likes it she can have more.

[CeliaBowen]

I like that idea.