Sitting down to eat?

I'm wondering what others do at meal times for their toddlers. My 2 year old can't seem to sit still and eat. This doesn't surprise me at all - she's two! But, should I continue to put her in a highchair or booster to keep her with us for "family meals"? I worry for 2 reasons: 1. the importance of family meals 2. will she be too busy to eat enough?

As it is now she takes a bite, runs to a toy, runs back and gets another bite, etc. She's happy, she's smiling. We don't tell her "come eat!" she comes back on her own. At a friends house recently there was a "eating in the kitchen only" rule and Aellyn didn't even understand it! lol. That doesn't bother me as far as my kid being less "disciplined" than another since that is my intention! I know (? do you agree?) that I can't stop her energy and need for movement and I wouldn't want to because it is age appropriate. So I'm wondering if she's still at an age where a highchair is better or let her roam free?

oh, also, she doesn't hate the highchair so my question isn't about "forcing" her into a highchair. She'll happily sit in "her chair" if we ask her too.

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How can you gently deal with a toddler’s picky eating habits?

I have a 33 month old son that is an extraordinarily picky eater. He is in the beige stage (chicken, breads, crackers, etc.) and will sometimes tolerate yogurt and fruit. I always offer a broad selection at meal time and place healthy snacks out between meals that he adamantly refuses. The bits of advice that seem to keep popping up amongst our very traditional minded circle of fellow parents are "when he's hungry he'll eat.", "Send him to bed once with an empty stomach and he'll eat from that point on", and "force a bite into his mouth". Obviously, none of these options are acceptable at all to us. Does anyone have tips or tricks to get that first important "hey, this stuff is pretty tasty" bite in? I have no qualms about him refusing a food he truly doesn't care for, but it's important that he broadens the palate a bit.

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Throwing Food

Help! My daughter is 27 months and she throws her food off her tray at the table. She's been doing this since she was 12ish months and I thought she'd grow out of it. I started with an "uh oh! Now we have to pick up the food!" and she'd help. Now we've moved to showing our displeasure with a "We don't throw food" but she'll look right at us and do it again! What should we do?

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