How to instill good table manners while making shure DD still eats?

[lauri]

Hello everyone,

Its probably the typical phase we're going through, but I just want to have some ideas; as all 15 months old, my DD is trying out her independance, especially around the times we eat; she will be interested in her food for about 2 minutes before starting to play with it (squash, squash), wipe it all off the table and trying to stand up in her (highchair) seat. My rule is then; off you go, no more dinner/lunch. She does like to run around, come back for a bite, run away again, come back etc, but after the first time, I thought it would be a BAD idea to let her take control like this. My fear is; no dinner equals night wakings and we're so happy she's sleeping till 8 every morning..

I dont want to let her sit at her own little table because meals are a family thing, and she'll do exactly the same in a booster seat as in a high chair: its pushed all the way to the table and as queen of our household ( ), she sits at the head of the table, haha, so she's a "big girl" as far as her father and I are concerned..

What do you all do when this happens; am I doing the right thing?

Thanks for any tips.

[skatty]

At this age my DD was out of the highchair and would be up and down and I would be so frustrated but never let her see it and after a while the freedom got boring! What I did was imagine what it must be like to be a toddler where a minute seems like an hour and there is so much to do and I found I was more understanding. Nowadays she will sit and eat what she wants of her dinner and then will get down and then have some fruit or yoghurt a bit later. I also made breakfast and lunch much more casual so she loves dinner when we sit at the table and are all talking and laughing. I wouldn't take her dinner away personally and just accept that she is being a toddler and she will soon realise the way mealtimes work