Does your child/children eat exactly the same as you?

[kerry85]

My daughter (nearly 2 years old) does nothing but eat!
We all, as a family, have the same evening meal. However during the day I always make sure she is sorted with breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack and I just eat when I get chance/when I'm hungry ( I can't always eat at the same time as I have a 14 week old ) therefor we don't really eat the same or at the same time.
This causes my daughter to constantly want whatever I'm eating! Are anyone else's children like this? If so do you give in and share your food? Which sometimes I find frustrating she stands at me like a dog! And she'll poke her fingers at my food!
Or should I be telling her No?
Or is it that I should just be eating the same at the same time?

I think it would be very harsh not to share, esp if you are having something different. DS is 3.3, DD is 4m. I prepare the same lunch for DS and I at the time he needs to eat and I put mine on the table too. Sometimes I can't eat it immediately, mostly I manage.

If you need to eat separately what about giving her a mini version of what you're having as an extra? Different f course if she hasn't eaten her own lunch, but then I'd just keep it in the fridge in case she announced hunger when I was eating.

She's interested in different foods. You don't know how lucky you are! If you're not doing structured mealtimes for both of you (and I totally understand why) I think you need to expect her to want to graze.

Oh thanks HPsauce
I don't really mind sharing I just wasn't sure if I was teaching her good manners, my husband gets a bit cross when she hangs around for food when he's eating but I think it's not fair to not give her any.
I think I will make the effort to eat lunch together ( not sure about breakfast, morning times are hectic! Haha )
I am very lucky that she is a very good eater and will eat most things I offer her, lets hope her sister turns out the same

I always offer ds some of what i am eating. I think its pretty rude to eat infront of someone and not offer! I wouldn't do that to anyone else in my house.

Yes always encourage her to try anything and everything and so long as she has a balanced diet I can't see the harm in her having a bit of your food. Ds1 is a terrible eater - longstanding feeding problems - and I would be delighted if he would try my food rather than refusing anything other than chicken nuggets, sausages and waffles. And biscuits and cake and chocolate... Dd2 is only 10.5mo but is a far better eater, and I encourage her to try anything she looks interested in.

Yeah, I'm happy as long as he's eating and just want to make it a healthy happy relationship with food for him, no matter how messy it gets.

we eat together and the same. I normally also bf the newborn at the same time. we all sit at the table together.

otherwise I would expect to have to share

I would think it was very rude to eat in front of someone, and not offer them the same food.

If you want to teach her table manners, and healthy eating habits, I would think that eating together, and modelling the behaviour you would like her to adopt would be the way forward.

We generally eat the same meal at the same time as our dd. If she's already eaten at nursery then we eat our evening meal after she's in bed as she only wants a small snack before bed on those days.

We found sharing food with her made her eat more types of food as a younger toddler as she wanted to be 'grown up' like us!

They do now they are 5 and 3. We don't eat at the same time during the week as DH doesn't get home until bedtime, but we eat together at the weekend/holidays.

When I was weaning DS1 he mostly ate different things, but I simply didn't have the time with DS2. In retrospect DS2 probably has had a more balanced diet overall as a result. I think it's possible to over think things, which is what I suspect I did with DS1.

I would just let her have a bit of whatever you're having OP. I often do a roast chicken which does for several meals. The second day we have wraps, the third maybe a chicken and mushroom pie or risotto. Just play it be ear, there's no right or wrong way imo.

I kind of disagree with giving your DC something to eat every time you eat. I often have the same issue that DD has already had her breakfast/lunch/snack whatever when I get round to having mine, and as she usually eats big portions I worry about her becoming overweight if I just give in every time she asks for food.

I try to eat at the same time as her, but when that's not possible I feel she has to learn that just because someone else is eating doesn't mean she has to as well. (And she does generally eat the same as we do, so it's not like she's just curious to try something new.)

No, but we usually eat at different times anyway. I can't eat much fruit + veg as it upsets my stomach so I don't like the dc's seeing what I eat. They have lots of fruit + veg.

But they're not fussy and eat beautifully when we're out so I've obviously done ok.

Thanks everyone for your opinions and advice, much appreciated
I thought the same as you metalhead.

I'm going to make sure we always eat lunch at the same time as well as evening meal, I don't feel she needs any extra than what is given her as her own