Someone gave me the idea of the 'dinner candle,' and it works. If you have a picky eater or a child that doesn't like to stay in their seat, light a candle at the table and call it the 'dinner candle' or whatever works for you. Tell them they get to blow it out as soon as they finish eating.
The dinner candle not only gives dinner a 'specialness' about it, but it also gives your kiddo a goal. For grown-ups, dinner is the goal. We know we need to eat. We want to eat. And we enjoy the chance to sit down, right? For our kids, dinner is not the goal; it's the side quest. They want to get back to playing! Sitting still is boring.
Adding that special trick into the dinnertime routine with the promise of 'when you finish your dinner, then you can blow out the candle' gives them the goal and the reward.
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