2.5 Year old concerns...

[mora711]

Hello,
I am the proud father of a 2.5 year old son.
He is a great little guy and I love him with all my heart.
I am new to this forum and I just wanted to get some advice, thoughts and tips on my boys development and how to be a better parent.

The first thing I am concerned about is that my son is hardly around other kids. My wife and I can't afford day care and my friends who have children live far away or work a lot and we don't get together that often. When I take my son to the park he gets so shy around other kids he grabs onto me for dear life and just keeps saying "Daddy, daddy, daddy!"
I have told him many times that it is okay to play with other kids at the park, not to worry and he sits and listens but every time we are there he does the same thing.
I am just so afraid when he starts pre school he is going to freak out and have a hard time around other children.
When we are home he is the most happy little guy in the world! He constantly laughs, talks a lot, runs around and is happy as can be.
As soon as he sees another child though he freezes up and shuts completely down!
Is this just what some children do or should I be concerned about it?

Second thing I am concerned about is his eating.
I really try to feed him healthy food but sometimes I just don't know what is good to give him.
He loves fruit and will eat blueberries, bananas, apples and strawberries.
Veggies however he hardly will eat. He just recently started liking carrots which is good, but greens he will not eat.
He also loves chocolate milk, he wakes up in the morning and that is the first thing he wants! I don't mind giving him some in the morning but I don't like giving it to him all day and that is all he asks for all day!
My wife will also give him cookies or a piece of candy whenever he asks and we clash on that a lot because I don't want him eating cookies and candy all the time.
I just would like some tips on healthier things to feed him or ways I can get him to eat more veggies.



Thanks!

 

[akmom]

Lots of kids do that at the playground. At age 2, it's very normal for them not to want to play with other kids. Often there is a fascination when they see other kids, especially younger ones, but I would say that toddlers that age typically DON'T make any effort to play with other kids.

Not liking vegetables, especially green ones, is also very normal. I would say that a 2-year-old happily eating green vegetables is probably pretty rare. It's still important nutritionally, and teaching them to develop a taste for vegetables eventually requires persistence. My children's pediatrician recommends just putting them in smoothies. (One cup frozen fruit, 1 banana, 1 cup plain yogurt, 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup greens... you won't see or taste the greens at all.)

I don't see any reason why a kid should have chocolate milk or cookies. I mean, if you don't give it to them, they won't know what they're missing. Once you start down that road, it's hard to get them to like anything else. Maybe you can replace them with lower glycemic snacks like Triscuits or even goldfish crackers.

 

[cybele]

Toddlers not wanting to play with other kids is normal, then one day they just seem to magically snap out of it and you find yourself standing there going "What? When did this happen?"

As for vegetables, keep offering, if he eats them, he eats them, if he doesn't, he will one day. As long as they are available to him he has a chance of trying them, it's when you don't offer them any longer and just give up that you run into trouble.
Also try different cooking methods, between my 5 we have had all sorts of weird toddler food quirks, one wouldn't eat sweet potato, but if I made sweet potato mash she would gobble it up, one wouldn't eat cucumber slices but would eat cucumber sticks, another would snack on snow peas all day, but put it in a stir fry and suddenly it was no good.
It sounds bizarre, but toddler eating habits are generally bizarre, they grow out of it. Just keep putting it on the plate.

It's hard once you get into the habit of things like chocolate milk and I'm on the side of there is absolutely no reason to introduce foods like that to toddlers in the first place, yes when they are older they will learn that it exists, but when they are older you can at least attempt to reason with them, can't reason with a 2yr old.
But obviously that ship has sailed. Maybe try offering a fruit smoothie instead? You said he likes blueberries, could you try a blueberry smoothie as a flavoured milk alternative? At leats that way the sugar is from a natural source and there is other vitamins in there.

 

[sophiePF]

Good morning everyone, I am a mom of 2 adorable children who are already 9 and 11. I am French and I arrived 12 years ago in this country while I was 6 months pregnant.

It was very difficult as I had no family, no friends yet and I didn't know much about about kids and my english was quasi inexistant.

Anyway, I had to learn by myself. I have spend years reading all books regarding parenting, discussing in forums and following few other programs.

Well, today I am not perfect but I am ready to share my experience to anyone it would help.

I can give you the author that completely changed my life (my favorite books over all parenting ones)

Isabelle Filliozat - Understanding Children's emotion

Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish - How to talk so kids can learn

Thomas Gordon - I don't have the name in english :-( but he is awesome anyway



I just saw that Isabelle Filliozat is having an interactive webinar in english (I have been to one of her conference in France where she is super famous - It was awesome! came back with a lot of answers)

 

[rabiii]

It's absolutely normal - don't worry! Even my kiddo keeps screaming "daddy daddy" all the time, and hugs me, and doesn't like to play with many kids. However, he keeps moving around, and is very fond of eating just about anything you give him.

You'll have to keep trying and in another 6 months, you'll see your hard-work paying off - and don't worry too much about other kids right now. Just make sure you take him on a walk 1-2 times in a day so that he sees the other kids on daily basis, and one fine day, he'll start interacting with them naturally like many others stated above.

 

[Vikki845]

Second thing I am concerned about is his eating.

There is an absolute goldmine of information on toddlers' eating habits on the Supernanny website. I became a huge fan of Supernanny Jo Frost when watching her TV show and seeing what an incredible almost miraculous effect her methods have on healing young dysfunctional families.
www.supernanny.co.uk/
Read the section on getting kids to eat healthy foods. It contains more info than I can write here, and it's good solid advice.
www.supernanny.co.uk/Advice/-/Food-and-Nutrition/-/0-to-4-years/Raising-a-Good-Eater.aspx[/url]

best of luck!

 

[hisherandtheirs]

I have a 4 year old girl and a almost 3 year old girl. My older one had problems playing with other kids being as she was an older child. I figured out that eventually they just do it. One day they will realize that they want to play with other kids. My younger on the other hand is the most independent most likely because she watches her older sister.

And with food. You have your picky kids. My 2 year old will eat any veggie I stick in front of her but wont eat random meats and sides, depending on what's in them or not.

My older decided that she stopped liking peas and green beans, it's all a matter of time. I don't force them to eat anything. I try to explain that it is good for them and should be eaten but all in time.

I also tried cauliflower crusts for breadsticks, and trying to hide their veggies.

I know someone that uses those veggie purees as a dip for their kid nuggets.

 

[marissapaul]

Kids always want food which are easy and tasty to eat. When it comes to food they always become very choosy. Now the onus is on us to make them aware what is good for them and which food would be tasty and healthy for them.

What I have experienced so far, that to lure our kiddos for food is really a very tough job.
To give them best out of it I keep on trying and exploring the tips to prepare different recipes.

 

[marissapaul]

Being a mother of 2.5 year old son, I keep on exploring new ideas for the proper physical and mental development of my kid. I have found this link very useful and helpful as well which contain the parenting tip category wise

http://www.babynology.com/parenting-advice/

I need more resource like that anyone please suggest.

 

[nicholas]

I think Ellyn Satter's web site give good advice on feeding kids.