Need Advice on Mealtime Planning for Preschooler

I'll tell you that I am, by nature, a very schedule-oriented, routine-oriented person! I do have a general eating schedule (with some flexibility, of course!). (FYI, my kids are now 5 and 2.5, if that info helps).

7:45 or 8:00-ish Breakfast (whenever we get up and dressed)
10:00 or 10: 30 Snack
12:00 or 12:30 Lunch
3:00-ish Snack (sometimes this is skipped, sometimes not)
5:30-ish Dinner

The idea here is not to be on a set schedule and punch a clock. There are plenty of times a meal or snack time gets moved or snacks get skipped, but the general guideline and routine is there.

Also, keep snacks as small and healthy as possible. It's just to keep them going until the next meal. And let your son set the pace for how much he eats at a meal. As long as you're offering healthy foods, allow him to eat as much or as little as he needs (so long as there are no medical issues to consider related to his eating, growth, etc.).

As far as what to do if a child refuses a meal, I can't really say. I've never had either one of them refuse a meal! My children are both BIG eaters and, generally, are willing to give new foods a chance. My guess would be let him wait until the next snack to eat. But I'd also be careful about introducing new foods. Maybe a new food along with familiar/liked foods so that he'll still have something to eat, even if he doesn't like the new thing. And introduce a new food several times before you give up. Sometimes kids need to have a food given to them multiple times before they warm up to it.

Hope this helps!
B.

Your son should definitely be eating 3 meals a day with 2 (and only 2) snacks in between. Now is the time to set a meal/snack schedule and stick with it, because he will not be able to snack all day when he's in Kindergarten. If you have breakfast right after he wakes, a mid-morning snack like a granola bar, some fruit and cheese, or some carbs like Goldfish crackers, lunch around 12, another small snack around 2:30-3 and then dinner around 6:30, he should be hungry at mealtimes, but not starving all day. If he's still not eating at mealtimes, make the snacks smaller and earlier and don't offer other foods after the meals if he doesn't eat. If he complains he's hungry, offer water to drink and reassure him you will eat again soon. When my kids don't eat their lunches, they don't get a snack. Instead they get their lunches back and can have snacky foods only after they finish their lunches.

Well...we are not on a strict eating schedule, but I do keep eating on some sort of schedule so I don't lose my mind (my kids get super cranky when they are hungry.

My kids eat first thing in the morning, usually around 7.
Snack is probably around 9 or 10 when I can since they are hungry or my 4 year old says she is hungry or my almost 2 year old starts digging in the pantry.
Lunch is at 12
They usually have a small snack around 2:30 or 3.
Dinner is at 5 or 5:30

They always eat their breakfast. If they don't eat lunch then that is their snack later in the day. But, yes, we do 3 meals and 2 snacks. All three meals are at the kitchen table with me. Snacks are sometimes at the table and sometimes in the living room. My kids usually eat a lot at each meal.

I don't see any harm in snacking. but it might help to get him on a schedule so it won't be so hard when he starts kindergarten. Good luck!

I don't know but looking back I kind of wish I had more of a set snack schedule when my boys were young. We kind of just did it randomly-if they asked, I gave them something. And they never ate big dinners either-probably b/c they weren't hungry enough!

I would try the 2 mini snacks inbetween meals and see how that goes if I were you and make it a *thing* like "time for snack-wash up and sit down!"