Our dd is pretty well behaved usually but, like most babies did when younger, used to chuck food/spoons/cups around at mealtimes. We have let it slide a bit, to be fair, and what was fairly cute at 9m is now a real PITA at 19m. She does it more when tired and also tends to eat as much as she wants of her main course/pudding then try and tip the bowl over the side of the highchair. Most annnoying is the cup throwing - we have a new ds (12 weeks) and am worried he will be in the line of fire when she chucks a full cup, which is pretty heavy (she doesn't throw at him, thank goodness as she adores him so far!) The poor dog has been biffed on the nose a couple of times though, poor thing.
I have tried:
"No, darling, don't throw"
"NO!"
ignoring chucking behaviour
praising when not chucking or giving cup to me when finished
taking cup/bowl/spoon away even if food and drink left in it
None very successful, although I admit haven't been too consistent. I always have at least a drink with her and often same meal. My polite table manners demonstration does not seem to have rubbed off.
Today both of us a bit tired and grumpy at lunch. Dd looked straight at me and chucked full cup of water at wall. I thought I must make some more effective stand, so returned the cup repeatedly to her highchair tray until she stopped chucking it off. Full-blown tantrum resulted, crying, screaming, headbanging, the lot- for an hour! Unsuccessful in getting her to hand me the cup, though. I feel awful, as I always do if she has a (pretty rare) tantrum, but feel that if I keep letting it slide she is going to persist in the bad habit. She DOES know it's naughty, and can very politely hand me a finished cup or bowl if she wants to.
How have you dealt with this? She is starting nursery in the New Year for 2 mornings, so hopefully eating with other children will help. Sorry, long post, still a bit hormonal and mega-tantrums upset me all day