Horrible dinner times

[GreyhoundsRUs]

What about a change in scenery? A simple "picnic" on the floor? Bath before dinner (which I get is counter-intuitive)? Is it "you're not paying attention to me" crying? I hate not wanting to be around my kids, but with Hannah, it happens a lot. I think it's partly having a "high needs" very verbal older sibling - "BUT I'M HERE TOO".

Is she hangry???

[oceanchild]

I had one of these nights last night with my 19-month-old. And my DH said the same thing Pollyanna said above.

I think the biggest problem was how tired DS was. He ended up eating his dinner sitting in his learning tower. It was ridiculous, but that was what he wanted. I put him to bed early and then had dinner by myself. I know that's not always an option with an older sibling there too.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Well, yeah, that's the hardest part. C is sitting there eating and I'm trying to talk to her and D is frickin SCREAMING so loud we can't hear ourselves. And C wanted a piece of cupcake afterward so I couldn't not give D one (C was being an angel)...but really I just wanted her to go to bed and stop screaming!!

[oceanchild]

...and this is why I'm still holding off on having a second kid.

Sorry. I was mostly trying to commiserate.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Quite honestly, I'm REALLY torn about approaching this one:

50% of the time, I want to have her eat on my lap, nurture her, cuddle her, etc. but she's likely to grab my plate, pull my hair, etc.
50% of the time, I want to just be like "TOUGH, just sit in your damn chair and scream" but then of course I'm like, "I'm DAMAGING her by not responding, etc."

[GreyhoundsRUs]

It's all about what you can tolerate (which I realize is compounded by 100000 factors). As you know, though, intermittent reinforcement is the strongest :/

[oceanchild]

Haha. We skew toward ignoring at our house. My son seems to do better when given some space to pull himself together.

[ladymoreta]

We went with "You don't have the right to disturb our dinner. Can you sit quietly, or do we need to move your high chair?" (Across the room) Yeah, maybe I should start saving up for their therapy...

[Thirteen]

We went with "You don't have the right to disturb our dinner. Can you sit quietly, or do we need to move your high chair?" (Across the room) Yeah, maybe I should start saving up for their therapy...

Add me to the therapy pool.
I've started saying "You can cry/scream/yell really really quietly right here, or you can cry/scream/yell as loudly as you want inside your room."


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[alotofyarn]

I tend to ignore too. E loves to throw tantrums, and I make sure she can't hurt herself and let her go at it. It generally doesn't take long before she realizes she isn't getting anywhere with it, so she figures something else out. I realize that's totally different from crying all night though. I have had times where she just won't stop screaming for anything though, usually because she's tired, so I just put her in her crib and walk away.

[houseelf]

BTDT. Hang in there mama. It is the bewitching hour. Everyone is spent and dinner needs made, laundry needs folded, and mail needs opened. To my shame, I yelled at my mom one time when she called at 5:30 because "DON'T YOU KNOW THIS IS THE WORST PART OF THE DAY TO CALL A WORKING MOM."

It gets better. Hang in there.