Full plate gone in five minutes, then hungry again by four

gentle_chai_336422 May 2026

Since the holidays started I've been watching him eat, and it's a race. A plate of rice, dal and curd gone in five minutes, half of it barely chewed, then he's back at the fridge an hour later asking what there is. At school he has a short lunch break and I think the habit comes from there. My mother says he'll get a stomach ache eating like this. I tried asking him to put the spoon down between bites, which lasted one meal. Anything that worked with a child this age, apart from nagging?

3 comments

olive_chai_921922 May 2026
Ours is two and takes forty minutes over four idlis, so the opposite problem 🙂 But my ammachi had a rule when we were kids: everyone at the table gets up together. Whoever finished first had to sit and talk. Slowed my brother down a lot.
violet_bookmark_830622 May 2026
Ours eats fast when there's a screen waiting afterwards. When there's nothing to rush to, he slows down by himself. I'm not sure it's the school break so much as whatever comes after the meal.
orchid_piano_517423 May 2026
Some of it may well be the timetable, as you say. Short lunch breaks do train children to eat quickly. I would be careful about making it a big topic, though, because at nine they can start to feel watched while eating. What helped with my son was simply serving in two rounds: a smaller first plate, and a second if he still wanted it after ten minutes or so.