Does your Toddler do a lot of this?

[LittleMissProcrastinator]

Throwing toys, Hitting, not wanting dinner when it's put on the table.
Just wondered what's normal for a nearly three year old and what other toddlers get up to on an average day.

One word answer - yes!

Anything to push the boundaries and get a reaction really. I strongly suggest (and wish someone had told me at the time...!) not to react to the not eating thing, stay calm and just say 'ok then' - much easier in the long run.

Yes.

We have had to get much stricter, and it is starting to pay off. Mostly.

That sounds exactly like my just-3 year old! He has never eaten much (from birth, lost 23% of birth weight in 3 days), so I am paranoid about this and it really winds me up.

Are you writing about my 3 year old?

No? I say it is normal then. Winds me up something chronic but I now don't care about the eating thing, if he is hungry, it isn't my fault.

yep, 2.8. It's all about what's negotiable and what isn't. Throwing and hitting land her in the naughty corner (after a warning); not eating food is just a a shrug and 'ok, it's fine if you don't want it'. We don't offer anything else.

She almost always eats her snack with her bedtime milk (usually fruit, or oatcakes or occasionally bread and butter).

ps we often leave her dinner on the table for a bit, as sometimes she comes back to it of her own accord - it's all about control

My DD, 2.3, is a good eater and enjoys her food but since she turned 2 is sometimes funny at meal times - clearly it's all about control.

I can put her plate in front of her and she will start grimacing and making as if there is no way on earth she is going to eat it. I have learnt that trying to force it gets us nowhere.

What I do is move the plate away and say oh well never mind lets just leave it over here (away from her a little bit still within reach). I then ignore and carry on eating mine ! Atfer a while she realises I'm not bothered and she starts poking at it with her fork. I talk about something else (eg the wind outside) for a bit. And after a bit I say "hey I bet you can't get that carrot on your fork!!" Cue praise when she does it. From that point the initial crisis about eating has passed and she sits and eats the whole lot up like an angel!

Mealtimes are also better if I give her limited choices at the beginning (do you want your blue bib or the pink one, the blue or pink cup, the green or silver spoon etc). She then clearly feels that she is setting the agenda from the start (though she isn't really, ha ha ! )