Feb 06 2009
Successfully trained my kids’ meal time to 30 min
I have been very annoyed with my kids’ mealtime lately. Everytime when I come home from work, I see MIL holding the rice bowl chasing them in the house, and complaining to me that she had been feeding them for 2 hours.
Yes! TWO HOURS and still not finished eating. They have dragged from 1 hour to 2 hours now.
Actually this is very unhealthy. Imagine how much germs would have grown in that bowl of rice after such a long time? It is also not a healthy habit. I remember 4 years ago, Ian’s peadiatrician said that it is important to develop good mealtime habit, so that they won’t face any trouble going to the school, when recess time is only 15 min typically.
The only way to make them eat in regular time frame, is to:
1) Give them a time frame (I set it as 30 min), and tell them up front that you would take away the food when the time is up.
2) You must mean what you say - really take away the unfinished food, when the time is up.
3) Kids will not die when you do this. You just need to provide some healthy snacks 2 hours later just in case. Healty snacks can be sliced cucumber/carrots.
Despite me telling MIL this, she cannot bear starving her grandchildren this way. Even FIL couldn’t stand it and asked me to take away the food (after that 2 hours!).
Since this whole week I ‘worked’ from home, I decided to ‘train’ them. I cooked myself and did not go to MIL’s place whole of this week. It is easier to train the kids without the elderly (including my mom, who uses TV a lot!).
1st meal (dinner) – Isabel didn’t get the meaning, played with her food as usual, but at least stayed at the dining table. She ate about 1/3 of her food when the time was up. I removed the food, she cried badly, but I did not give in. Explained to her again, and gave a cup of milk 2 hours later.
2nd meal (lunch) – Isabel begged me not to take away her porridge, the moment I laid down the rules of 30 min. She kept protesting and ate quite slowly. Finished about 3/4 of her food when I removed it. Because of that, she couldn’t have her CNY cookies which she asked before lunch (the rule was: you can eat anything if you finish your lunch before the time is up).
3rd meal (dinner) – Isabel finished all of her food in 28 min. Just nice! She had everything she likes after that.
4th meal (lunch) – I cooked her favourite noodle, but she played with the food. Ate about 90% of the food when the time was up.
5th meal (dinner) – Another favourite noodle of hers. She finished in 20 min!
6th meal (lunch) – Finished just within 30 min, but with feeding (previously all by herself).
7th meal (dinner) – Finished in 25 min.
8th meal (lunch) – Finished in 29 min.
As for the 9th meal - the dinner just now, because MIL cooked and asked us to go, so we had our first dinner in MIL’s house since started this ‘training’. Isabel is more playful and more difficult to be handled in MIL’s house. She finished in 33 min, slightly over.
Overall, I think this is a great success for us!
As for Ian, he understands things better – the moment I laid down the rules, he grasp it immediately and followed without any fuss. For him, he knows that: Mama says it, she means it. He knows if I say I will take it away, I definitely would. No joking. 
And the dinner at MIL was such a breeze for Ian – he finished in less than 10 min!!! Whew!
wow…kids learn fast huh…
Congratulations on a successful training! Hehe!
By the way, this is for you:
Noblesse Oblige Award
hey, hey, this is great!
i think i will also start this training with ryan soon. he is coming to 4 soon and i already think it is a little too late …. mummy was lazy.
but i think now, with 2 to handle, i’d better start it before it gets out of hand!
aiyu: Yup, and actually we adults need to be consistent and persistent too!
jane: thanks for the tag!
busy Bee: hehehe, but I guess ryan is not as bad as our kids – spending over 2 hours for every meal is definitely not acceptable to me. :p
agree. i had similar problems previously, too. then, i realised that kids will finish their meals faster if they are seated at the dining table – MINUS the TV – PLUS if they get some yummy rewards after that
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