2 year old threw her food across the floor so I put her directly to bed 1 our early

[Anonymous]

This is after several months of pretty successful redirection, take plate away etc.

She didn't resist going to bed and fell to sleep pretty easily.

Was this not a good approach? What should I do at this stage where she very clearly knows throwing her plate across the floor is wrong.

[Anonymous]

I think that's fine.

[Anonymous]

You don't want her to associate slerp with punishment but it seemed like she needed it so good you're all good

[Anonymous]

If she didn't resist going to bed and fell asleep easily, she was tired and this was not punishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she didn't resist going to bed and fell asleep easily, she was tired and this was not punishment.

This.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s fine. But also a little unrealistic to expect your 2 yr old to have perfect impulse control.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't use that as a "punishment". Certainly not for a 2yo.

But it sounds like she needs to catch up on sleep. Is she napping well?

[Anonymous]

I used to use a plate or bowl with a suction cup on the bottom but that was decades ago when my kids were young. Are these not still available?

[Anonymous]

Any kind of big intentional mess instantly ends our meals; throwing a plate would mean the meal was over and my 2yo would have to stand away from the table not making any more mess until I was done cleaning up. But I have a hearty, non-picky eater so she mostly only acts up when she’s bored/overtired and after she’s had some food (and unless it’s dinner, she’s going to eat again in 3 or fewer hours so I wouldn’t worry even if she hadn’t); YMMV if this isn’t the case for your kid.

OP, since your child went to sleep easily, maybe they’re making drama at dinner because they’re tired and need an earlier bedtime in general?

[Anonymous]

Your 2 year old doesn't have concept of time so not sure how effective the punishment was, but since she went to sleep easily sounds like she needed it!

[Anonymous]

I don’t use bed as punishment bc I read that it makes bedtime harder on normal nights. I do take away the food and end the meal for throwing food though

[Anonymous]

No plate in her reach for awhile. Put one bite size piece of food in front of her at a time.

You may find she comes down with something tomorrow. May of her way of expressing she feels like crap, is tired and not interested in food.

[Anonymous]

Sometime mom needs the kid to be in bed, and that's okay.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like she was overtired and the food throwing was her acting out. Think of the early bedtime as problem solving rather than punishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like she was overtired and the food throwing was her acting out. Think of the early bedtime as problem solving rather than punishment.

+1 agree with this and think saying I think you’re really tired and putting to bed early is fine, but if the putting to bed early included a lot of yelling, scolding, and shaming then I wouldn’t recommend that. It sounds like she’s probably super tired and that might be leading to some of this.