Throwing Food

My daughter went through the exact same thing, and it was very frustrating :) I agree with the other posters, when he is done, remove the food. Once I moved my daughter out of her high chair and into a booster chair at the table, this behavior pretty much stopped altoghether. I think it must have been more fun for her to throw when she could see down from all sides, but the table seems to provide more room for her so that she isn't able to see as much as what hits the floor, therefore much less fun!

My two year old use to throw food too, especially at the dog, which was fun to watch the dog eat. I stopped having the dog in the house while we ate. She pretty much stopped throwing after that. I also moved her into a chair with a booster seat on it that was semi-easy for her to climb out of when she was done. Yes at first she would get down and try to eat her food everywhere, but I made it a rule right away that as soon as she stepped down, then she was done, no matter what. I put the food in the garbage and the dish in the sink. She caught on quite quickly to that too, and now sits and eats until she is full and then gets down. I hope this helps some, Good Luck.

Take the food away. I was told when a child throws or plays with food he is done and there is no reason for the food to be in front of him anymore. A baby will not starve himself, and will eat when he is hungry. I had the same problem with my daughter and when we take the food away, the problem stops because there is no more food to throw. My daughter eventually caught on and stopped throwing it, however even at 2 and a half she still plays with it when she's done anf we haven't gotten it away from her yet. Your son won't starve, and he'll learn that throwing is not appropriate behavior. As for the animals, we have a Pit Bull and an American Bulldog and they are not allowed in the kitchen when we are eating. This stops them from begging and our children (2 1/2 years and 7 1/2 months) from thinking that they can throw food to the dogs. Hope this helps, but just know that this will be an ongoing battle and it is up to you to be strong :)

I have the exact same problem. My daughter is the same age as well. Born in May 2005. Whenever she is done eating she swipes her hands all over her tray and throws her food all over the floor. I have tried everything I can think of. If you find the answerk please let me know. Goodluck to you.

Hi M.
My daughter is two and we went through this stage too. I would just take her food away and make her wait in her highchair until everybody was done eating. I found that she really wasnt done eating, just was getting distracted and wanted to get down and play. She figured it out that if she got down there was no coming back later to eat more. It helped that I was eating too, I would say "oh yum, this food is so good. You better eat yours." I only offer her food at mealtimes, no snacks. She eats a lot better and larger quantities, and this way I know she is getting good the nutrition she needs.
Good Luck
Jackie

i'm in the same boat with a 2 year old and almost 3 year old.mainly the 2 year old. she throws her cup on the floor all the time. i give her one warning.tell her she needs to leave it on her tray or i take it away. i know i need to be stronger when it comes to taking away the food when she starts throwing it. but i have a hard time wasting food. i mean the stuff that hits the ground she doesn't get back but the rest on her plate i have a hard time just tossing.
if it's something that will keep i try to keep it for another meal.
i may have to try that of takign away their trays of their booster seats and letting them eat at the table. maybe that will help.

Funny that you mention this because we just got done eating dinner (my husband, myself and our 16 m/o). She was tossing everything off of her try to our dogs (she does this after she is done eating). We just keep telling her "Leave your food on your tray" and she eventually stopped. The only thing I would have to offer is be consistent, just keep telling him not to do it.

This is just a bad habbit that he is getting into and you should keep correcting him, I don't know your ways of diciplin but you could always try tapping his hands when he starts to throw the food so he knows that there are conciquences for bad habbits and that you me NO.