My 26mo ds is loving playing control games, eg won't listen to the word no att all.But any time we ask him to di something he shouts NO at us. Even when I try to make it a game or whatever. As of today I'm going to try not saying it at all, and rather distract him or find a way to avoid any sort of power struggle.
The main issue we have, though, is at the dinner table. For the past few months he has refused point blank to sit in a high chair to eat, so he kneels on a dining chair. This is fine mainly, except if dinner is something he's decided he doesn't want to eat. Then he just says "all done" and pushes his plate away then says he wants to go and play.
So my question is, do we just allow him to leave the table to go and play? If he's hungry in 20 mins do we offer something else or put the same food back in front of him? Or shouldn't he be given anything else til the next "proper" snack/mealtime? Or do we simply leave his food out, and he'll come back to it if he's hungry? I'm not so keen on the last option cos it means he'll just pick and choose when he eats.
He eats dinner with his brother each evening. Because of the shifts I work, dh and I can't have a sit-down meal til 8pm.
We've been praising ds1 when he eats his dinner to show ds2 that just eating will get praise (ie we're not forcing him to clear his plate if he's not hungry).
Any suggestions would be great - thank you!