Throwing / Dropping Food

Hi D.,

Sorry to tell you this, but this is normal for this age. This is just 1 many things that will end up driving you nuts. He will outgrow 1 thing and then find another thing to do. Sooner or later is it will be potty training, teasing a sibling, doing chores, and then someday it will be school, homework, wanting expensive toys and clothes when you live on a walmart budget (and it could be worse) . My oldest plans to be driving in 1 1/2 yrs and thinks she should have a new car. I hope somebody didn't tell you parenting would be easy, if they did they lied. Don't swet the small stuff and do the best you can because they grow up too fast.

To prevent him from tossing his plate, don't give him one. Put the food directly on the tray. If he likes to watch things drop, set him on the floor to eat - things don't fall very far when you're already there!

Seriously, this is normal kid behavior. For a while they just have to experiment with the whole food thing. My kids would squash food into their hair just to check out how that felt. It was frustrating, but they eventually stopped doing it. Maybe you could set him in his high chair with some toys that can be tossed onto the floor. Maybe he'll get it out of his system. LOL.

Maybe you could try watching him closely and when he is finished with something or doesn't like something, catch it before he drops it and say, "ALL DONE!" and set it to the side. If he just doesn't want those thing on his plate or tray, then he should try to verbalize that instead of demonstrating it. If he could learn to say, "all done," when he's finished with something, then you could remove those items he doesn't want.

Really, I have no idea. I'm just thinking out loud. Sorry. Hopefully someone else has some great ideas that will help. Just remember he's only 1. Good luck!

I had the same problem with my oldest. I did exactly the same thing you did but i figured out that even that little bit was the attention that she wanted. I started to ignore her and just pick up whatever it was but once she dropped it she could not have it back. Took a couple of days but she learned that we were serious and she stopped. Good luck!

My oldest son went through the same thing around that age. The best pearl of wisdom I can give you is that he will grow out of it eventually. Often times children do these thing to 1) see what happens and 2) Watch you react to it. So the next time he does it try picking it up casually without giving him a reaction and put back on his tray. When he does it again, and he will, pick it up again and again give no reaction and calmly put it in the kitchen sink. When he sees that there is no reaction to it he will probably get bored and stop. Hope this helps!

Many babies if not all do this. They like to drop and watch us pick up. It's like a game for them. Both my children did it. My son did it more. So with him I fed him most of the time and when I couldn't, I'd just lay some newspapers on the floor under where he sat and afterward, clean up was a breeze. Eventually they will stop doing it. It's more like an exploration phase for them. To see cause and affect.

This is a very normal phase. Continue to be consistent, it will take at some point. I don't believe hitting or slapping is appropriate ever, so I would recommend ditching that (but that is a personal thing). I also concur that you should just give him the food on tray and remove the plate. Put a mat under it. Another suggestion is show him how to sign "all done" to give him something to do with his hands.

We definitely went through this phase and it seemed counter intuititive to take away his plate when he dumped his food to tell you "all done" because that's what they are telling you too. LOL. It really is a phase, try to enjoy it - it won't last forever.
L.

My daughter is the same age and would do the same thing (still does from time to time). We taught her that when she is finished with her food, to hand us her plate, sippy cup, whatever it was - and to say "all done" or "all gone". Teaching her that although it's not necessarily right to drop the food on the floor, and there's a better way to get rid of it by handing it to us, I think, has been the right way to approach. Not saying that this will work for you son - because that's they beauty of all kids being different! Anyway, I hope you find a solution that works for you.

I recently started applying the Love and Logic parenting method. Look on line at their website for an overview. The results are amazing and not too taxing on mom!