I have just realised that my kids are like feral animals around the kitchen and I have no control over their diet

[Cappuccino]

something needs to be done

they eat snacks

they don't eat their tea

they leave their tea

they scream because they can't have snacks

I told dd2 (3) today that she could have a flapjack when she had finished her bagel

she never even sat down for the bagel she was all over the damn place, then I found her eating a miniature Yorkie that she had found in a box (we never have them, we had them at the weekend for camping and they had been put away)

and her flapjack was in the garden in a flowerbed

when dd1 gets home from school she will get an orange, leave half of it lying around, moan that she is hungry, leave her tea, moan for dessert, moan some more, wander off, and then strop at 6.30 because she is hungry and wants 'supper' (ie biscuits, which we never even have in the damn house)

I can't get them to sit down and eat and I know it is supposed to be a lovely family time but it is like feeding a family of animals they don't stay still and they have their own agenda

and I did everything right we always do family mealtimes we are supposed to be sitting wonderfully around the table talking about our day and being Good Family but they WON'T PLAY NICELY and they are out of control and I do not know what to do

oh yes dd2 lives on yogurt

plain live yogurt

....more evidence, (if any were needed!) of ny shite parenting skills...

I gave up the uneven struggle of all sitting down Waltons style some time ago. The urchins will graze if permitted, and I tend to feed them in the front room in front of the electronic babysitter.

I await opprobrium.

Bizarrely, the Waltons gene must be present, as they sit perfectly well and eat in a restaurant.

Just off to scrape breakfast off the living room floor...

(no, really, I am....)

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Cheerios aren't so bad-nor are Rice Krispies, Weetabix etc. DD loves Special K, which seems like a weird thing to give a child, but really, it's fine.

Assume you don't want to be making porridge?

Granary toast and Marmite/honey always goes down well here (well, not always, only when I've remembered to buy bread, which isn't that often)

I love my apron, very good as long as you remember to remove it before leaving the house. It is not a great fashion accessory.

but they are just white bread, aren't they?

they're not part of a Healthy Nutritious Diet

ditto Cheerios

they are both things I have ended up with over time and I can't remember how

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oh cod sorry was being not specific enough

she dropped flapjack in garden

on outing to view frog while I was boiling kettle

she didn't go and put it there

behaviour I guess

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Just caught ds#4 feeding his lunch to the chickens. I thought he had eaten it long ago

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she had put it in her Dora lunchbox

which she had taken to the table with her, which I thought was fine

unluckily it gave her meal portability

You have my sympathy capp. Ds1 has just gone to bed for a nap at the tail-end of a MAHOOSIVE tantrum because nasty mummy insisted he ate one bite of his sandwich before he could have a bun. My fault for leaving the bun box in view I guess. He still hasn't got the concept of "do this, then this happens" so I think maybe it was beyond him. Needless to say, he didn't get his bun!

I have a zero tolerance attitude to walking around with food. They (well the little ones anyway) have to sit at the table to eat their food, and mustn't get down until they are finished. If they do, then their food is cleared away and they get nothing else until the next meal/snack time. If ds1 (this is who it mainly applies to; the dds pretty much manage themselves now) refuses to eat his lunch/whatever, he doesn't get pud, and he only gets a normal fruit allowance at snack time(eg one banana, but not allowed to just fill up on fruit). Inevitably come the next meal time he is pretty hungry so he eats better at that meal! I would say he probably refuses at least one meal a day at the moment (he is going through a difficult phase - sigh), but overall he eats well.

You've probably had loads of replies since I started this, I've had a phonecall and a visitor in between paras

serve selves?

good plan, except dd1's motor skills aren't up to that

can do it with more of their input, though

will do

How does your apron make you a 10?

bloody hell there were four replies when I started - off to read rest of thread now!

If they get involved in making their food, would that help? Or would it just mean scraping butter and cheerios off the walls and wondering how to remove porage from the ceiling?

What about starting with good behaviour = minutes of tv time/un-Smarties/pocket money?

I believe in bribery, me.

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lol WanderingTrolley

they put their own milk on stuff

and they help bake

but dd2 is still a little too young and too INSANE to have around when stuff is hot

there are solemn and safe 3 year olds and then there are, well, children like dd2

Small jug to pour milk?

yes cod am liking idea

um - we used to strap ours in when they were in their high chairs (maybe even at 3 - it seems so long ago now I can't remember !).

Anyway - over the time they were tied down we instilled the idea that you all sit down together until everyone has finished eating. We still have that rule - but are relaxing it a bit because we have one really slow eater and it drives me mental sitting there for over an hours saying "eat" to one and "when everyone is finished" to the others.

But even after all that I still have to remind them multiple times at meals what the rules are - eg no second course until you have eaten the first, no playing at table (because they forget to eat totatlly if they have a toy).

We also make sure no food from about 2 hours before the nexct meal otherwise they don't eat their main meals (doesn't stop them nagging about being hungryyyyyy though).

I guess you just have to ruthlessly stick to your rules until they realise you aren't going to give up (no relaxing rules until they are reliable - probably when they are about 25 !).