How do you keep food messes under control?

[Karamom]

My children leave food all over the house and it is driving me crazy! Not just a little here and there but everywhere and it always get smooshed into the carpet and is just disgusting. Today I gave them little snack baggies with a cereal/raisin/chocolate chip mix and a few minutes later it is everywhere in the living room! I would just pick it up but of course it is mixed in with a huge array of toys and other various items they have discarded everywhere.

To be fair ds (almost 4) is pretty good at keeping his food on the plate or bowl or whatever but then when he isn't looking dd (18months) comes along and dumps it. Also I'm not sure how to tell her she can't take her snack bag away from the table when ds can, that doesn't seem fair even though she makes most the mess.

It might be ok if I was on the ball enough to clean as they go but I'm tired and busy and sometimes don't even notice until its everywhere.

So how do you all keep food under control? Would it be completely unreasonable to say all food must be eaten at then dinner table? I want to do this but I like to eat in the living room as well and I know I would have to follow the rule. Also I can see that it would be no fun for ds who likes to eat and play.

TIA!

[Devaskyla]

I wish I knew. We rent & the carpet has gotten awful! I borrowed my mom's steam cleaner a couple months ago & cleaned them, but it looks like it hasn't been done in years. I'm sick to death of sweeping & vaccuuming since it looks like I didn't do it in weeks 5 minutes later.

[Mei Mei]

I would say the only way to reliably control food mess is to control where the food is eaten. If you only have food at the table, expect the mess to be at the table (and under it, of course. ). If you let kids eat on the couch, expect messes on the couch. Eating in bed? Expect messes on your pillow and in your sheets. Kids are just going to make messes when they eat, at least until they are a bit older.

[mamazee]

For me, if food is taken out of the kitchen, it has to be something that won't hurt the carpet. So I wouldn't have let choc chips out of the kitchen. Older kids can probably control their food reasonably well, but an 18-month-old just won't be able to keep track of it well enough. You could put her up in a high chair if it's a messy snack to keep her from moving it around the house.

[One_Girl]

We eat at the table or outside unless one of us is very sick. We have a kitchen table and a coffee table to choose from inside and outside it is free range.

[mom2grrls]

Keep the food at your kitchen/dining room table, that's really the only way Now that my kids are older I do occasionally let them eat in the LR with a TV tray as a treat.

[MamieCole]

Originally Posted by mom2grrls

Keep the food at your kitchen/dining room table, that's really the only way Now that my kids are older I do occasionally let them eat in the LR with a TV tray as a treat.

We have a "No wandering food" mentality in our house. You should be sitting when you eat. Food stays in the kitchen/dining area (where there is no carpet) or outside, unless it is something totally dry that can be easily vacuumed, in which case it can be eaten at the ottoman in the living room.

We don't eat food in bedrooms, bathrooms, hallway, etc.

We don't have any rules about this, per se, it's just how we approach eating food. It has never occured to DS1, almost 4, to bring food into his room. There was one time when he wasn't feeling well and I brought him a banana to eat while he was resting in bed. He looked at me like I had three heads and said "Mommy, you know we don't eat food in our beds."

[mamazee]

Yeah I never never let food go in bedrooms.

[GuildJenn]

We only eat in the kitchen or in a designated 'picnic area' in the rec room (the last includes snacks but not messy ones), unless we're entertaining. Snacks also go on plates which I find does help some - for a while I tried bags and it was not good.

When we have a picnic part of it is to clean up all the crumbs after.

[crowcaw]

We only eat when sitting at the table. It's always been that way so unspoken here too. Our reason initially was that we have a large dog that follows and begs and takes things out of dds hands if given the chance but now that dds are 5 I'm glad that this is the routine because I wouldn't want food all over the house and I don't believe they're yet capable of not dribbling bits about or forgetting the cookie that then slides between the couch cushions.

[Marsupialmom]

Only eating at the table.

This also helps stop eating because of boredom.

[jillyofthevalley]

I have this same problem in my house. Thing is, the rule is no eating anywhere but the kitchen table but no one seems to obey it around here. I'm at my wits end! I have to shampoo the carpets monthly and I'm sick of it. Anyone have any advice on how to get the kids to actually follow the rule? Every time I turn around someone else is eating something, usually something messy, in the living room. I immediately send them back into the kitchen but 2 minutes later they're back in the living room with the food.

[OkiMom]

I use to allow food where ever then I realize that my daughter would want to eat a cracker in the playroom and it would end up all over the house. I really don't like having to pick up every room because someone had a snack. So now snacks/food are only allowed in the dining room/kitchen. Special allowances are made for someone who is sick, hurt or otherwise not doing well. Once in a great while we will have a "picnic" in the living room and watch a movie as a family but then everyone helps clean up afterwards. Even my 20 month old will help take dishes to the kitchen, my 3 year old folds up the rug and drags it to the washing machine (which is about 3-4 feet away from the living room) and I sweep. I don't mind it to much because they 1) know its a special thing and 2) everyone helps in the clean up.

[EFmom]

Food is eaten at the kitchen table and nowhere else. This is an ironclad rule.

I just have too much work to do as it is to be cleaning up food all over the house.

[StephandOwen]

Our rule is that all food is eaten at the dining room table.

We also got ds a little hand-held vacuum that sits behind his chair in the dining room. He tends to make lots of crumbs with breads and crackers so he can use the vacuum to clean those up.

[crunchy_mommy]

My DS hardly eats during the day so I'm hesitant to discourage him from playing while eating, that's basically the only way he will eat when it's just me at home.

The only way I can control the mess is by holding the food dish. So I'll sit on the couch or something & he can come take a piece of whatever he's eating & I hold the dish so he doesn't dump it. We also put his kid table in the living room so he has somewhere to eat messier foods (and I have to sit there with him & he'll often color or something while eating).

I have been a firm believer in letting kids self-feed but my fear of messes has led me to feed DS way more often lately than I'd like. I really need to reign that in, obviously the only way he'll learn is if he has a chance to practice, right? Also he is the kind of kid that throws his whole plate of food on the floor unexpectedly (at any random point before/during/after a meal) so we only give him ~3 bites of food at a time.

The whole thing is really frustrating for me, I just don't have the energy to be always cleaning up spilled food, it drives me nuts and we keep getting ants!!

So... I guess my experience isn't too helpful. I do have friends who swear by a 'snack trap' which I guess is supposed to keep the food contained -- maybe try something like that? I haven't bothered because I know DS would just rip off the cover and dump the whole thing out.

[reezley]

My kids eat snacks all the time in the livingroom. Things we do:
1) Snack Trap (has rubber top with slots to reach through to get the food - I love these things and so do the kids)
2) No chocolate chips or other messy foods in the livingroom
3) access to the dustbuster, and request they use it - they often do it on their own too
4) The crumbs don't bother me, I know they or I will vacuum soon, and messes don't bother me anyway. Otherwise, I would not let them eat in the livingroom!
5) No food upstairs (which includes bedrooms)

[jamiew]

I would say "don't have carpet". Hardwood, that's the way to go!

[jillyofthevalley]

Originally Posted by jamiew

I would say "don't have carpet". Hardwood, that's the way to go!

I wish! LOL Our old house had laminate all throughout and I totally miss it. We want to tear out the carpet at some point and put hardwood in but it's not going to happen in the near future.

[ImaSophie]

My kids can self feed till the cows come home but their cups and plates/bowls must remain on the kitchen table.