Squirmy Kids at the Dinner Table & Tips to Make it Stop

Whether you are a mom, dad, babysitter, relative or grandparent trying to feed your toddler at the table, it can be a challenge because kids at this age are very squirmy. Here are some creative tips to keep them happy at the dinner table and in their chair eating:

1. Be creative with toddler utensils. For example, give your kids a garlic press to puree some of their own dinner.
2. Let them play with a cookie cutter, whisk or lidded containers with food inside of them (this entertains them while you are at the table so you can get a quick bite in too!)
3. Keep a small stash of plastic toys ready that you can put onto the high chair tray as your child’s interest in the food begins to go downward.
4. Play farm animals – ask your toddler to pretend to be an animal who can “eat some of his or her meal.
5. Use plastic cars or trucks to drive up to the food (fill the truck, such as a dump truck, with food and “drive” it into a pile for him or her to eat.
6. Lastly, consider eating in your toddler’s favorite spot. If your child eats with you at the dinner table every night, why not switch it up and eat at his or her play area once in awhile or perhaps have a “special night” not in the high chair as a treat! 🙂

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Le Top Tip: Get those Wiggles out!

Kid’s not cooperating at the dinner table?  Not eating or just being disruptive??

Karen, the ‘Right Hand of Le Top’ and mother of 2 boys has this helpful tip to share.

“Take a moment and ask everyone at the table to hold hands with the person sitting next to you so that everyone is holding hands. Start singing a song that is comforting, silly or a favorite of someone at the table. Everyone swings their hands back and forth to the beat and when done with the song, suggest that it is now time to eat.

This was very helpful at our house with 2 small boys – we usually chose a song that was kid-friendly whether it was Barney, the Wiggles, London Bridges or any other favorite of the day! It was a short song, but long enough that it got the wiggles out of the boys and then we were able to again re-focus on dinner. It also brought the boys into the conversation at the table, which sometimes was overwhelming when all of the ‘big’ people were talking about their day and the ‘little’ guys were feeling overlooked.”

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