To get silently annoyed when parents chase their kids with food?

I have chased in the past, but put a stop to that when I realised my kids were taking the piss. However I do try and insist they finish what's on their plate....we don't encourage wasting food, so we don't put them huge portions, but yes, we do insist they finish.

To be fair I have never chased them with a loaded fork but if when they come back to the table I will shovel food into their mouth (if they are under 4 years).

Do you think the anxiety of not eating drives it ? As i said one of mine was fussy looking back it was maybe Afrid so there was a lot of refusal and dry (so dry) food eaten i just gave it at meal/snack times though so she was in a routine rather than offering food adhoc.

It's not always straightforward. My eldest has a great appetite, no issues at all. My youngest has a genetic condition and will often refuse her meal. Also as a baby she needed high-cal milk due to a heart issue.
So I often have to coax her to eat otherwise we're in a situation where the oldest is waiting for her pudding and I don't want to exclude the youngest. But the youngest would quite happily just fill up on snacks.

I know I should be neutral, but the reality is that meal times will go on for up to 2 hours if I don't give her some encouragement.

My son would quite happily just not eat though. I probably overthink it but it does worry me and probably makes me act in a crazy manner

I used to have to follow one of my DC around handing him cubes of cheese when he was a toddler or else he lost weight (he's autistic).

No one on here can say why the party dad was following his kids around with food but I'm sure he wouldn't have been doing it if he didn't feel he needed to. I don't think anyone actually wants to end up at that point as a parent.

Yep as a mum I can't stand it, all our kids from teens to toddlers have always sat at the table at meal times and know not to get up. We recently were at wether spoons with family with our 4 under 5 and ours sat, waited patiently and had a giggle with various family then ate there food while around us another 2 families with only 1 toddler were doing this exact thing, kid running between tables while parents took turns chasing to feed forkfuls of food. I was brought up meal times are for sitting down and eating and chatting not running about etc and so ours are brought up the same

We never give any form of attention over food did it with first big mistake it became a game and she knew how much attention she got from it my other 3 kids we don't piss about no choices one meal every one sits at the table together you eat it or you don't but nobody is leaving the table until everyone has finished. Food isn't a discussion no begging no bribing no different meals, no getting out your seat and running around I now have good eaters

So for my eldest he would get very dysregulated if hungry (sen) so if it was running past lunchtime I'd be expecting a public meltdown as a toddler if he didn't sit to eat something at least.

I also prefer them to at their meal to avoid looking for biscuits etc later.

On the whole though as long as they sit and eat something at a mealtime and haven't been unwell I'm not following anyone around popping chips in their mouths. They are 7 and 4 now though and unlikely to starve.

Bribery is slightly different to chasing kids round with a sandwich or forks.
Just thinking of the mess as bits fall off and the choking hazard as kids run away.

@Worktillate fair, i have family and their dc with type 1 and they are always checking and eating sometimes it looks relentless, i get it nobody knows what is going on but there is parents who do not want to upset their little children, or are paniking so much about food that they are chasing them with food, i mean it is a choking hazard at worse.

Some parents have to do this to maintain the healthy appearance that you say the children have.

Not generally a fork - for me that would be too messy.

Anything with carbs usually, sandwich, biscuit, anything I could launch into her mouth from distance.

My point basically was there could be a reason beyond just 'wanting them to eat'. Juvenile diabetes has risen dramatically over the time since my daughter was diagnosed (age 3). Its really quite prevalent

My kids are all autistic (except one) and if I didn’t follow them around with food, they wouldn’t eat. Especially the two that have PDA. Even things they want and need feel like a demand.

This just causes feeding adversion. I’ve been that parent concerned about my son’s picky eating that I’ve in the past been like “eat, it’s lunchtime, try this, try that”. But obviously it isn’t good for you or the kid

Yes, it is ashame if loads of food gets wasted but IME (which is over 10 years ago now) soft play venues were the worst for that as playing on the stuff is too tempting. Mind you at one of these parties my DC went to, there was loads of food left and one of the Dads of the children who had been invited so not the host just started putting sausage rolls, bread and cakes in his big jacket pockets!

I never chased my DC around with food as it was never going to be a battle I was going to win with my DC.

What does wanting them to try different things mean ?

Well that is clearly a medical issue and were you racing around the park with a fork ?

Wanted him to try different things? As you say, it doesn't affect you.

I can link you to some nice articles about climate collapse if you'd like something real to worry about.

This definitely is a factor for me, because my son was just not interested in food for ages.

At antenatal meet ups, some kids would be sat in their high chairs shovelling in food at 6m, whilst my son was frantically crawling across the cafe floor.

In my head, if I could just get him interested in food he might sit still for it, but he has always been more of a mover. He's a normal weight and is super strong because his favourite food is meat and veg.

Having said that I don't force him to eat, or ask him to. And I don't agonise whether he sits at the table to eat, comes back and has a mouthful etc. If we want meals out I get him good and tired first, and take him for a strategic toilet trip for a walk/circuit the pub garden etc before he gets restless.

My husband nags him to eat and it drives me bonkers because he does it about every 30s.

Wouldn’t you just make them sit down til they’d had a reasonable amount then let them go off to play though? Rather than chase the with a loaded fork?

At a party I would encourage eating as it's really annoying seeing a whole load of food out on the table about to be wasted when you know as soon as you get in the car to leave the child will say they are hungry.thats why cake goes in the party bags I guess.parties are too fun to sit and eat and food wastage is awful,it's a different situation than at home.
Really think you can't judge because every child/family is different and gave different reasons.

My DD is type 1 diabetic and I used to chase her round with food when she was active and her blood sugars were dropping. It can prevent a medical emergency.

I still do it now and she's 18 so.....

My 17 year old is super skinny (boy) and always has been. Can’t find trousers to fit skinny. Hadn’t stunted his height at all (unless he was expected to be 6ft 4.)

my oldest was also medically underweight during childhood but has made it to a smidge shy of 6ft. My shortest son has always been on the chunky side 🤣