What are we doing wrong
FTM to a 17 month old and I feel like I’m failing in some ways.
I’ll start by saying I absolutely love my kiddo and he’s so sweet and funny like 90% of the time. Seeing his little personality come out is so rewarding. But recently, we’ve ran into the problem of him constantly throwing his food on the floor and hitting/scratching me and dad in the face. These two things are things that only happen at home, as we’ve talked to his daycare teachers and they all say he hasn’t had problems there.
For the hitting/scratching, I’ve tried the gentle parenting, my husband has tried a firm voice. But both are met with laughs and giggles. We’re trying to set the boundary that he cannot touch our face, but he thinks we’re just playing and I’m at a loss.
For the food throwing, I understand that it’s developmentally acceptable. We’ve taught him “all done” in sign language and he uses it well. Over the course of three meals and a snack today, he had about 1 eggs worth of scrambled eggs, a kids cup of smoothie, two bites of chicken nuggets, a handful of rice and goldfish. Everything else ended up on the floor. My kiddo is already small for his age so I’m very nervous that he’s not getting enough nutrition with the lack of food he’s eating. Is this something that I’m just gonna have to wait for him to grow out of?? When he starts throwing food, I take the plate away and feed him myself, but that ends up on the floor too.
I’m just at a loss on what to do or how to move forward. I want the hitting and scratching to stop, I want the food throwing to stop. When he’s not doing those things, he’s the sweetest little boy.