DS is nearly 3 and we tend to often have trouble with tea time at home. It doesn't seem to be impacted based on having tea at 4.30, 5 or occasionally 6 - we usually have the same issue regardless.
At nursery he eats a lot and once a week with my mum he devours fish and chips so I'm not too worried about him not eating enough, it's more just frustrating.
At the weekend, we sit DS down sometimes with us, sometimes on his own. He plays with his fork, tips drips of his drink into his hair and generally just messes about. He doesn't tend to like hot food all that much even though I let it cool down a lot before serving. Tonight he has mash, breaded chicken and peas and he is eating his peas one by one with his hands but very slowly doing his usual messing about between bites.
Me and DH completely disagree on how to deal with this.
DH gets cross and repetitively tells DS to get on with his tea. He'll threaten him that there will be nothing after tea if he doesn't eat up.
I try to talk to DS as little as possible, gently reminding him to eat his tea once or twice. I often give in and sometimes DS will let me spoon feed him. If he doesn't eat much, I won't give him anything else but it's not something I threaten, I'll just say it's time to get down. DH says my approach means we're not doing anything to solve the problem.
Neither approach is ideal as both have lots of inconsistencies.
Any ideas would be helpful. My feeling is we'll get there but shouting is going to be counter productive and contribute to a negative atmosphere.