Parenting Tips for Your 35-36 Month Old Toddler

At this age, your child has more patience and can focus on one thing for a longer period of time. She can also serve herself foods and have short conversations. All of these things make family meal time more pleasant. Family meals help to build strong family bonds.

You may think you don’t have time for family meals, but making the effort can be valuable for your toddler. Research shows that toddlers, who eat at least one meal a day with their family, do better in school. They have better language skills and they have fewer behavior problems.

Eating together also lets toddlers see you eating healthy foods. We know that toddlers who see their parents eating healthy foods also eat healthy foods themselves.

It can be hard for some families to find a time for everyone to eat together. Try to have at least one adult sit and eat at the same time as your toddler every day. Find one time during the week when everyone can sit together. It may be a breakfast or a lunch time. Keep it simple, keep it fun…just keep it!

Tips for planning family meal times:

• Make family meals a priority in your house.

• Plan ahead—look at family schedules. Find a time that works for everyone.

• Let everyone know it is expected that the family will sit and eat together.

• Keep meals simple. Buy foods that are easy to prepare.

• Have pleasant family conversations. Talk about fun things.

• Avoid talking about problems.

• Ask your toddler about her day. Talk about future plans you have together.