2 1/2 year old son does not sit still to eat!!

[Corky]

My son has always been a real fidget, but lately at every mealtime he literally sits still for 3 mouthfuls and then proceeds to get down from the table. He won't sit in a highchair and undoes the harness in the booster seat. I normally end up trying to feed him myself whilst he is on the move or by giving him a toy or book. This isn't a great example to set for my daughter who is 5 and then starts playing up too as she sees the attention he gets.

I want to get tough with him but am not sure what to do - perhaps just take away what he doesn't eat? Should I give him dessert if he only eats a few mouthfuls?

This behaviour is also hard when my daughter has got friends round for tea and my son keeps getting down from the table as then all the children follow his example!

Its driving me up the wall - any ideas!

blimey he does sound a livewire

I think if this was me I wouldn't want to feed him while on the move; it would be basically training him to do what you DON'T want him to do. I also think kids this young need to be sitting down to eat; choking is a worry I think.

I would get straight down the line on this myself; if he gets down, he's finished. No more. Give him fruit till the next meal time but no more than that.

I think just being consistent would work in the end. You need to show him what's expected basically. And yes I guess you may have some days of extreme grumpiness while he gets the message...but I think it would be worth it.

Corky it all depends on how hard-line you want to be. I expect my children to stay at the table, sitting nicely on their bottoms and (very old-fashioned, this) wait for everyone to finish before saying thank you and getting down.
The hard-line is to firstly give a warning then if no luck toss his food in the bin at once with no offers of pudding or other food other than fruit until next meal time. And plenty of attention for your DD whilst you ignore the wailing from DS. He will get the message.
This way you are giving him a choice over sitting nicely and eating lovely food or making do with apple slices later.