i usually limit the ammount of food in the afternoon period leading up to dinner so my kids are hungrier by dinner time. but if they are being silly or refuse to eat i usually let them know if they don’t eat it for there dinner that it will be their breakfast.

You can get these great “winner” dinner plates where the plate is like a game board. You put a bit of food in each section and they work their way through the board. Then there is a covered section with a treat that they get when it’s all finished.

I would have said exactly the same as mom71809 – don’t make a fuss and act like it’s just expected that they will eat their dinner. The more you fuss, the more they will play up.

get them to help prepare the meal. turn off the tv

Feed them their dinner after school – instead of snacks, and if they are hungry for something later, then give them something light… I know myself if I am tired, I am not hungry

make sure there are no distractions? get them involved in cooking. don’t feed them 1 hr before

I love the alarm idea is so annoying when they wont eat master 2 is for ever saying I don’t like it grrrr

I only have one but find if I dont make a fuss about the food in frontmof her or what shes eating she eats better

set out clear rules and stick to them!
1 they sit and eat dinner or they go hungry (seems harsh but does them no harm)
2 if they leave the table they are finished and get no more food
3 set a time limit 1 to an 1&1/2 hour, what they havnt eaten by then they dont get to eat.
you can gradually reduce the time until they eat in a reasonable amount of time
4 dont let them eat anything within 3 hours of dinner time
5 no food after dinner and desert.
and obviously 6 no desert unless dinner is all eaten.

Make food simple and easy. Start with what I like to call a “chunk a meal” – chunks of cheese, capsicum, tomato, basically what your child likes to eat and let them explore it hands and all.

We have started using an alarm clock, and when it goes off, dinner is over. This isn’t working yet, but it might… We’re also using a choice: eat dinner without complaining about it or go straight to bed. This isn’t working yet either, but I live in hope… I’m not much help, am I?

We make pictures & faces out of our tea & it’s the first one to eat it wins

My daughter is great with loving vegies and good food, but she always will just sit there and take forever to eat it. i’ll look at her and she will just be off with the fairies and there’s no food in her mouth. it drives me crazy. she is obsessed with herbs at the moment, so whatever is for dinner, I let her sprinkle her choice of herbs on the top and she eats it so much faster.

Sounds like my house, my nearly 3 year old is going through the same thing she will say “feed me!” and if I do she eats it all up!!! grrrrrrr but I feel happy once it is all gone.

Sounds like my house, my nearly 3 year old is going through the same thing she will say “feed me!” and if I do she eats it all up!!! grrrrrrr but I feel happy once it is all gone. might use some of the ideas here though

try not to stress a lot and maybe them them involved and making games out of eating

Sounds like my house!! If its something new i am trying he will refuse to eat it and say he doesnt like it.. Im like ‘you havent even tried it!”.. Arghhhh good luck!

You could try serving something like Cheese and Apple Quesadillas, which are easy to make, and your girls could help you to make them. You can try them with a variety of fillings, and adjust the fillings to ingredients that your girls like. If they have helped to make the meal, hopefully they’ll be more inclined to eat the meal. A friend of mine had similar trouble with her two boys, so she sat them down one weekend, and they each made a list of foods they like and didn’t like. Then they talked about different meals that they could all make together, and each of the boys were told that one day each week, it would be their choice for a meal for dinner (within reason). So Tuesday became Liam’s Day, and he helped to make his choice of dinner, with Thursday being Matthew’s Day. It was amazing the difference in their attitude to food and eating, once they had some input.

we give our daughter 2 options dinner or bedtime, she always picks dinner

Try not to stress. If they are hungry they will eat. Make sure there is good food on the plate. The rule in our house is you can leave one thing if you don’t like it or you have to eat half of everything on the plate – then just serve more than they would eat!