How to teach a toddler not to waste (milk/cereal etc)

[TheLemur]

DS (2.9) loves having a massive bowl of cereal in the morning and adds milk til it's virtually overflowing. I think this is partly because he just likes to see the milk at the top, and partly because he's hungry and wants lots to eat. He is very grumpy/touchy/sensitive/angry in the morning until he's eaten. He drinks some of the milk when he's finished his cereal but not all of it, and I hate thowing away half a pint every morning

Sometimes he's so hungry/angry that we end up filling 2 bowls with different cereals and milk as an attempt to get him to eat something to calm him down (!)

I have tried to explain about waste.. that mummy and daddy work to earn money to pay for milk and get sad when we have to throw it away. And I've explained in other contexts eg: you can't have the bath full as we pay for the water and it would be a waste.

Anyway, do I just need to grow some balls, put the milk on the cereal for him and put up with any subsequent tantrum? (v difficult to then actually calm him enough to get him to eat something to resolve the whole situation and get to nursery) or is it just a phase that he likes everything 'full' at the moment?

This morning we had toast

DD1 does this although not so much now (she is 3 1/2, I try to encourage her not to but use the inevitable leftover milk on breakfast for me or dd2.

Can you get a smaller bowl, or have a "special" milk carton with just the right amount of milk in?

Thanks for the reassurance that he's not the only one and it will get better! Also good idea about recycling the milk but I can't abide creamy milk myself (I am a skimmed person) and no other DC to give it to (and cat is lactose intolerant!)

I've tried giving him his own pint bottle with not much in it but then he insists on using my milk (which I have out to make tea with etc). Plus he sees me pouring milk into his little bottle and then wants to get in on the milk pouring fun!! We're on the smallest bowl I can find too

The waste issue really is a hard one to get across - I have been trying for over a year & it still isn't getting across. I'm afraid it is something we still have to manage for a good few years yet unfortunately.

I would tell him 'that's enough', and if he still insists on pouring too much milk then the next day either pour it on for him or put the right amount in a separate milk jug for him, and explain why. Do that for a few days then go back to letting him pour it himself with a warning that if he pours too much it will be back to you doing it for him.

Or just stick with toast!