Throwing Food on the Floor

He's doing it for the attention of the dog and you.
Put the dog in the other room. If he throws it on the floor tell him no and nothing more also don't run over and pick it up. If he continues remove him and tell him he's done.

Hi R.,
I have a few suggestions....
1) I would put the dog in bed or outside or even in another room.
2) When he goes to start thorwing the food on the floor, tell him NO, in a low tone voice also tell him we eat out food that is on our plates.

In addtion to these things I would take it 1 step further. It is the rule in our house "that if you are big enough to make the mess, you are bug enough to clean it up. This goes for my kids and my daycare kids, if they drop food on the floor in, on or around their chair they sit in they have to pick up what has dropped.

So #3 would be when he is done eating and he has dropped food on the floor, he gets down and does his best to clean it up. If he wants to see what cause and effect is then show him. It's just not I drop food and the dog eats it and I get a reaction out of mommy and daddy, I also make a mess on the floor and mommy/daddy clean it up.
So when you go to clean it up get him down there also and have him pick the food up and put it in the trash let him know that if he would eat his food he wouldn't have to do this.
This is my opinion though, W.

When he's looking at you and he does it, he gets a reaction..thats what he wants so he does it again and again. Ignore him when he does it or simply tell him NO firmly and be done with it. My son is 20 months old and still at times will toss food on the floor, not often, but when its something he doesn't want or when he's done eating so we simply take his plate away and remove him from the table. As far as the dog, put the dog outside or in another room and that will solve that problem.

Here's the 2 simple things that helped me with both girls-

We always said, "What do we throw? Balls." Sounds silly but it has come in quite handy.
Also, we have a small plate next to her regular plate for her to put her 'yucky' ones. She has learned that she puts her unwanted food there.
I agree with the others to take the dog out of the room.
We also frequent restaurants a lot. If my youngest (which we also did with the oldest at one time) throws food, a tantrum, whatever. My husband takes her out to the car to sit in her car seat. She hates it! She knows that she will go for 'time out' if she does something wrong. My husband does it because she tends to favor mommy over daddy so it is not seen as a reward to her for getting that time in the car with daddy. Even though he doesn't speak to her until she settles down.

Good luck!

I think that this is a very common issue that most of us face. My daughter is about the same age and occasionally will do the same thing. Most of the advice I would give has already been covered by other moms but I would caution you on two different points. 1. I would recommend only giving one warning before following through with a consequence (ie removing the plate of food and taking your son out of his chair). Once you start giving more consequences your child learns not to take you seriously the first time and two warnings turn to three and then four, etc. 2. I would also caution about the smacking of his hand when he does something wrong, as I think that would model for him that when something isn't going right hitting is OK.
Have you read Parenting with Love and Logic? It really helps explain how to handle these kinds of situations without losing your temper. Also, don't forget that you can try to feed him again in an hour or two - it, of course, isn't about starving him for the rest of the day!

Don't think of this as him doing something bad. He is too young to know bad from good. He is still learning cause and effect. When my boys did this I was sure to not give them too much of a reaction. I would also keep their plate out of their reach and only give them a little food at a time. That way they couldn't throw an entire plate of food on the floor at once. This will pass. Just try not to let is become a battle. You might like www.askdrsears.com
Good luck.

Stop using the word "don't." Most kids that age can't comprehend the word "don't" and will only hear "throw your food on the floor!" Instead say, "we keep our food on our plate.

Also he is still young enough and he is trying out the cause and effect of actions. So if he drops something, he gets a reaction out of the dog and you. When you are home you can put the dog in another room while you eat until he learns to keep the food on the table, and while you are out, don't give him much at a time to throw on the floor. You can stop giving him food if he does throw it on the floor until he wants to eat it. Seems harsh, but he won't starve! Praise him when he does keep it on the table too. It will be a long battle, but if you stick with it he will learn you aren't giving in.

Maybe this is too extreme for what you're wanting but with Emme I just took her food away. If she started playing with it or throwing it, off it went. She learned super quick needless to say!

my 17mo old does the same thing, our cat seems to love him for it! We just put only a few pieces of food on his tray at a time, and that seems to help, with to much food on the tray he gets overwhelmed. Also he likes to throw his cup, so when he does, we take it away, and the next time he starts to throw it, we remind him to put it down nicely, and then he does... His highchair is next to the table, so when he doesn't want a piece of food, we've taught him to set the unwanted piece on the table... Good Luck! I know the feeling when you eat out, I hate to do that too!

When my almost 2 year old daughter throws food on the floor we tell her no a couple of times and if she continues to do it them we take her to her rrom and she sits on her bed. Once she is done crying it out...which may take a few minutes then we put her back in her chair and explain to her that the food does not go on the floor and if she does it again she is finished eating. We haven't had any problems with this method. Once in a while she forgets and throws food but we haven't had to remove her from the table in a while. Good luck!

I have been through this alot,it's no fun!Tell him no.Then tell him if he throws it then he is all done.If he throws it again then take the plate.I know it sounds harsh and you worry he won't eat enough.Usually when they start playing they are done.If not then they learn if they want thier plate they have to eat and not throw.This was hard for me with my younget because he is underweight and he would start throwing it before he ate anything it seemed.We tried moving the dogs out of the room and he would still throw it and call them.YOu would think it wouldn't be as fun when they didn't come but he seemed to figure things out quick and throw it in spite!

Hi R.,

So...he does it at the restaurant too? Dog is not there...
That means that he is not trying to feed the dog, I would suggest to give him just the amount of food for a couple of spoons and then serve him more, so he doesn't have enough to throw away. I had a friend that used to put a lot of food for her baby to choose in his plate, that was the main reason why he used to do the same than yours. As soon as she started placing smaller amounts...he stopped! Just thought you could try that.

An other thing, put a plastic mat under his chair and simply ignore when he does it, if you ignore it (really ignore it and don't pick it up) he might stop, may be he is trying to do something that he knows gets attention.

Best of luck on this one....

Mariana Abadie
www.MyKidsFirst.com