Kids entertainment during mealtime

Child, Development Stages, Parenting

Remember the suprise dinner yesterday? Allan’s friend was full of gimmicks to keep her 4-year-old entertained, hoping that she will leave her parents to eat in peace.

He started off by pouring out a whole tube of 30 illumine sticks. Made ‘wings’, ‘flowers’, ‘camera’, ‘magic wands’ and what-have-you for his daughter to keep her occupied. He gave a few sticks to my boys too. What my kids did was get them connected in circle to form ‘steering wheels’ and they are completely contented. We were eating in an outdoor area with romantic amber lights around, so the illumine sticks looked really pretty in such a setting.

The girl was getting sick of the sticks by the middle of the dinner. My boys had stopped playing with them the moment they started to eat. Friend’s wife was complaining that her girl hardly eats anything or dare to try new food. The girl would have the spoonful of rice in her mouth for many minutes before chewing and finally swallowing.

I remembered the time when Keatkeat had this problem too. Luckily that can-you-eat-faster, can-you-chew-your-food, can-you-swallow-your-food stage is over after lots of adjustments made by us, like no TV during meal time, no toys in the hands while they eat. To replace the toys, we gave them the spoon. Got them to feed themselves, at least for the first few mouths before we succumb to their plea to feed them. As days go by, the number of self-feeds increases and occasionally, they can finish their food all by themselves.

Throughout the dinner, the girl fidgetted and went up and down her chair many times. My boys do that quite often too. Suprisingly they were super duper well-behaved that night, NONE of such behaviour happened, not once! Keatkeat eed himself till he finished his entire plate of rice and pork chop. Binbin kept eating his favourite leafy vegetables without fidgeting till he was full.

Allan’s friend and his wife were so impressed. Keatkeat being the same age as their daughter and Binbin 2 years younger, they felt rather ashamed to some extend. I tried to remove their awful feelings by explaining that such behaviour only happens when the boys are in super good mood. But their reply was, “even when she is in good mood, she is never close to what your boys are eating or doing.” Am I proud, you betcha!

So when the illumine sticks are no longer an attraction to her, the dad brought out the portable VCD player. Put in the Alvin and the Chipmuncks VCD and immediately she started to sit still and glued her eyes on the screen but the mouth was still not moving.

I wanted so much to watch this movie, but I wouldn’t want to bring the kids to any cinemas till they are much older and I couldn’t tell my mom-in-law, “Hi mommy, I need to go catch a movie, could you please take care of these two grandsons of yours while I go enjoy?” She would kill me! Her likely thoughts would be ‘What a clever move, ya?! You go enjoy while I struggle inside these four walls with 5 screaming kids?’

So I was in the same state as the girl, my eyes were stucked to the screen. I am a big fan of Alvin and the Chipmunks when I was a small girl, love it! After watching for less than 10 minutes, she got bored and hopped out of her chair and began running around. The boys have finished their portion of food too and the 3 kids were playing together. That was when I decided to stop watching the movie and be the nanny for the rest of the night while the other 3 adults chat about work, money and life.

(‘I must get the VCD…I must get the VCD!’)

Many parents are seen extremely frustrated when they bring along their children for meal out-of-their comfortable home. In their big bags, you often find toys, teddy bears, rattles, cards, story books, and the list of whatever small ‘entertainers’ that can be stuffed into the bag goes on….

Allan and I used to hate bringing the kids out for meal be it just the 4 of us or with others, simply because they can’t sit still! We had an agreement, if we were to go for any dinner with our friends, no kids shall come along. But now, after the how-to-behave-during-mealtime intense-training at home, we are always willing to bring them out for food.

It takes time for children to learn to sit still during mealtime. We realised the earlier we taught them the right way, the earlier they get used to the rules. In order to let everyone enjoy the meal, there must be 3 golden guidelines before my boys are out.

1- they must have their bottle of milk. In case their crave for the white-powder starts when they are outside. I would not want to bring the bottles and flask out, they are not babies anymore.

2- they must be in a hungry state.

3- they can use their hands to pick up the food they are going to eat. In this way, they will feel more at ease, they enjoy the food better too.

So what do you bring along to entertain your kids while you eat outside? Or are you the lucky parent who never had such a worry?

Copyright © 2007-2024 All About Your Child. The contents on this blog are the sole property of the author, Angeline Foong, and may not be used or reproduced in any manner without consent. All Rights Reserved. 1 Comment »

Brush Your Teeth

Child, Development Stages, Parenting, Preschool, Toddler

Finally Binbin, 2, knows how to rinse his mouth. He used to drink the water instead of spitting it out. I’m observing for another week or two. If he is really good at rinsing his mouth, then I can introduce brushing with toothpaste.

I feel a great sense of achievement, not for myself, but for the kids, whenever they progress on to taking care of themselves. One day, I know I will not hear :

“Mummy, I want you to brush my teeth….”

“Mummy, I want you to wear my shirt for me….”

“Mummy, help me wear my shoes…..”

“Mummy, feed me…”

“Mummy, I can’t do this, can you do it for me….”

“Mummy, I want you to play cars with me….” and when this day comes, I will really missed these duties that seem to be sucking energy out of me everyday now.

Remembering the time when I was just rubbing his baby gums with a wet handkerchief. Then went on to rub his first tooth. As more teeth appeared, the very first toothbrush came into action. His expression and the twitching of his eyes during his first brush was so funny. Then he asked to try brushing on his own…..

For Keatkeat, my 4-year-old, have ‘completed’ the cycle. He is now an independent little fellow; able to squeeze his strawberry flavoured toothpaste on his Mickey Mouse toothbrush; rinse his mouth twice before he starts brushing in and out, up and down; when his mouth is full of foam, he rinse his mouth clean; washes his toothbrush and finally putting it back on the rack. What a big boy now!

How often we take these little things for granted? Treasure every moment with your child, for before you know it, they are but memories only.

Copyright © 2007-2024 All About Your Child. The contents on this blog are the sole property of the author, Angeline Foong, and may not be used or reproduced in any manner without consent. All Rights Reserved. No Comments »