What's mine is not mine anymore.(kle1986)

old teacher's trick (well yean, I'm an OLD teacher but .... ) - don't let her have it until YOU are ready to have yours.

She's 2 1/2 -- she needs to 'set her place', put down a placemat (for BOTH of you even if hers is on the floor and yours is next to the computer).  She can WASH both of them and dry them.  You can do the knife thing while she lays down the placemats. 

Keep her occupied with small tasks until YOU are ready.  You can't give her hers and then have her have empty time while *you* try to eat.  Won't work 

She can .... mop up the water spots from the floor, she can go put the damp towels away ... creative kid labor!!  er kid POWER. 

True story from the annals of a former elementary/pre-school  teacher 

Once upon a time there was a relatively new teacher who felt sorry for those poor little kids who were SO rushed in the morning that they forgot their lunches!!  Soooooooooooooooooooo she always kept rice cakes and assorted 'stuff' in her desk to give to those poor kids so they didn't good food-less!

One boy in particular seemed to often forget his lunch ... family wasn't rich, and I often wondered if Mom just didn't pack much ... if any.  Until .... one day I overheard on the playground ...

 "Whatcha got for lunch today?  I've got ham .... AGAIN *sigh*"

"Man I HATE what my mother packs ... but hey -- it's E Z .... just tell Miss P you FORGOT your lunch!!    I'll eat your ham today cos I like it, but go tell her you FORGOT -- she's always got yummy stuff in her desk.  Well at least what goes on TOP of the rice cakes is ok ... and heck it's better than that 'good for you' junk my MOTHER packs!!  Tell her you're really hungry and she'll give you more!!  It works -- I DO IT ALL THE TIME!!"

hmmmmm -- I didn't have to sit down for the rest of the day because my behind hurt from kicking MYSELF. 

They'll manipulate you like a puppet if you let them!!  *grin*  AT 2 1/2 she's got a head start on ya Mom!!!

 I'm not trying to make it sound "easy" -- trust me, it's not.  But you aren't the first mother to starve to death waiting on her kids!!  Suck them into the work -- it's FAIR!!  But don't let them eat first -- that's an automatic "mom starves" thing!

 Hahahahahahahaha Callie!  That story sounds rather familiar. 

My sister's kids were in charge of making their own lunches from the time the youngest, my nephew was about 7 or 8.  Steph was 11 or so, so they did a pretty good job.  They had to take a piece of fruit, 2 school snacks(cookies, fruitsnacks, granolabars etc...) and a sandwich.  Plus they took a looney(thats a canadian dollar for you americans) from the milk jar for milk at school.  

One day my sister got a call from the school to come in and talk to Mike's(my nephew) teacher.  When she got there, his teacher looked concerned, but rather confused.  She told my sister that if she was not so well known at the school, and had 2 other kids in the school, that Children's Aid would have been called.  Apparently it had become a daily occurance for Mike to go to school with no lunch, or maybe just cookies.  He had discovered that if he had no lunch he could go to the staff room and have some Chefboyardee, which he much perferred over a regular old sandwich.  He was feeding his sandwiches to my Pint on his way out to the bus!  If it wasn't for the fact that the girls always had good sandwiches, my sister could have been in trouble.  Well that and the fact that Mike CANNOT tell a lie.  He cracks up like a little clown when he tries.  

But yes, eventually our kids teach us to eat when they eat or not at all.  

I feed Will the bit he needs help with.  And then I let him self feed something (some bread and butter or some fruit) while I sit next to him and keep an eye on him while I eat AS WELL.  Not only is it the best way to actually make sure you do eat something, it's important to do stuff TOGETHER with your kids - it's how they learn.  Well, that's what I think anyway. 

Samantha loves to help me sweep the floor. She will hold the dust pan for me. She does clean up after herself if she drops something or spills something. She cleans up her room to or tries to.

It's just when it comes to food that she is a monster. She loves food. 

 Hehe, Kali likes to help me put the clothes from the washer into the dryer...one at a time.  Sometimes it takes 20 minutes to switch a load since she has to stop and clap after every sock, tshirt, and washcloth, but I think its good for her.  She likes to put things in the garbage for me too, but that's getting a little out of hand as of late.  The other day I found one of my good saucepans in there.  Usually though, she's in charge of putting her diapers in the garbage.  Thats useful.