habits while eating

at times, my LO's fuss in their high chairs and the tv gets turned on while they eat. this is NOT the habit i would like to start setting. i would like to being feeding the children at our dining room table where we eat but sometimes; we dont even get to eat there. we shove the food in our mouths as it comes out of the oven, etc. LOL. i am sure you can relate!

at what age is developing these habits, necessary? i would like to start going out to dinner, having them sit in actual highchairs, etc. i am assuming if i set rules at home, they will follow them while out.
i know they are young but is there a time when i should start showing them what good behavior looks like? we still have to feed them their bottles in our arms or in boppies and their solids are fed to them in their chairs.

 

Before we had kids, Mike & I used to eat in front of the tv all the time. Once we had kids & they were old enough for solids, all meals were eaten in the kitchen or dining room. None of them have ever been allowed to watch tv while eating unless there was something really special going on. I've just always assumed it's best to start good habits early. ardon: If they got fussy while in their high chairs, I always gave them a toy to play with or a few Cheerios or Puffs or something to eat.

 

I so agree. Good eating habits are forming very early and we follow them for the rest of our lives. I try to make sure that we as a family always eat dinner at the table together. No tv, we never even pick the phone up. It's our family time. We started it as soon as my daughter was able to sit in her high chair and eat her first solids with us.

 

We just offered the boys a toy when they got fussy and that seemed to work well. When DD was a toddler before the boys were born, we let her eat and watch TV. It worked well for all of us. However, now we all eat at the table with no TV. So, if you start the habit, you do have time to change it.

 

We always eat in the dining room, no tv, no phones, occasionally we play music though. if they get really fussy during meals, I give them a suction cup toy or we turn on baby einstein music. for about a week, feeding time was terrible. They would scream while I was feeding the other one and it was not fun. My mother relieved me for a couple dinners a week so I wouldn't completely lose it. I just kept doing the same routine though. Now they are used to it. Occasionally, I give them a Mum-Mum in the living room, but they sit down facing me and eat it. It a hassle to get out their high chairs more than 3 times a day so if they just want a snack, this is what we do. Or i put their bumbos on the floor in the kitchen. I also believe habits start young. We have always eaten dinner as a family (this was a big adjustment for DH since his family never did this).

 

This is exactly what we do. Family meals are really important to me, so we got the boys eating with us as soon as they started solids.