Last Updated on May 2, 2026 by Dr. Ashley Söderlund
Inside: Four practical tips to help your kids sit all the way through dinner — from ergonomic sitting to color on placemats, enjoy your meals again!
Did you hear that kids in France can apparently sit through dinners that last for hours? Or have you ever heard the saying — the families who eat together, stay together? Or that dinnertime is the best time to connect as a family?
Well, I am not sure that any of that is true per se, but I do think there is something to be said about connecting around a shared meal. Which is hard to do when your toddler or preschooler is decidedly unlike those kids in France!
How to get your kids to sit through dinner. Four tips that work!
1. Have Your Child Join in Meal Preparation: Give them a Job
Young children love jobs, and they love to be included and to do it “myself!” Once I began asking my son to help me get dinner ready, he became more invested in the whole dinner time ritual.
He would sometimes help with food preparation, but what he really liked doing was setting the table. I cleaned out a lower cabinet and put all of his dishes and cups in it so they are easy for him to reach, and he has a spot in the kitchen.
I also put an extra set of measuring cups and spoons in there. He loves to help measure! He also loves to pour a small amount of sauce, so if I have any sauce, he is extra excited for dinner and to do his part as the saucier. He also started helping put away dishes in his cabinet and sort the silverware!
Being included in prepping for dinner made my son more willing (sometimes even excited!) to sit down and be part of it.
2. Check Your Child’s Seat: Give Them Support
As I was searching for ideas to help my son sit through dinner, I came across this excellent post at Your Kids Table: How to Seat Your Child for Mealtime and Why it Matters. I highly recommend clicking over and reading that post yourself, the author is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist which means she is uniquely qualified to talk about sitting positions and kids.
Honestly, this was something I never thought about myself, as my son doesn’t *need* a booster like he did when he was younger, but what she says about sensory input for the feet and sitting with the hips, knees, and ankles at a 90-degree angle makes so much sense!
I purchased this booster seat, which is specifically designed for big kids aged 3 and up, to raise him up to the right level at the table and used a two-step stool to create the 90-degree angle for his feet.
My son now actually sits through a whole meal, and he’s comfortable. It’s amazing! Now, after an hour-long French meal, I still have my doubts. But, no more getting up and down, hanging on Daddy, spinning around, etc. All of those behaviors stopped when we changed his seating position and provided him with appropriate sensory input through his feet.
3. Have a Rotation of Fun Placemats or a Coloring Tablecloth: Give Them Something to Do
This one is simple, but it helps. I think this actually helps more at breakfast and lunch when I am still moving around the kitchen, and he is sitting by himself. Or, this could be perfect for special occasions and holiday dinners.
Another idea is to cover your table with butcher paper and encourage your kids to color the table while eating. I don’t do this all of the time, but last summer vacation I decided to do it on a slow week to make mealtime more fun.
The Coloring Table – Holiday Design
Eatsleepdoodle World Map Kid’s Coloring TableclothTot Talk Educational Kids Placemats – STEMTot Talk Weather Educational Placemat
4. Do a Fun Activity as a Family During Dinner: Skip the Forced Conversations
I don’t know many toddlers or preschoolers who can carry on a conversation about their day at the dinner table. We do talk about what each of us did during our day, but it is a pretty short conversation at this age. Who says dinner time has to be about a conversation, especially with little kids?
What really counts is making that connection as a family and establishing the dinner table as a place where you can have fun together. So, why not play a game of some kind? Here is a great list of games from the Family Dinner Project for ages 2 to 100!
Conversation starters are a great way to connect around the dinner table as well. Print these conversation starters at home on cardstock — there are questions for fun, getting-to-know-you questions, gratitude questions, growth-mindset questions, and more!
My favorite game to play at the dinner table was introduced to me through What Do We Do All Day‘s post on “Why You Should Ban Dinner Conversation (And What To Do Instead).“ It’s really worth clicking over and reading her perspective.
Her go-to activity at dinner for her family is Mad Libs! Seriously, this works! We have had so much fun and laughter creating and reading Mad Libs at dinner. My son is four, so I purchased Mad Libs Junior, which gives you a list of words for each category. We read the list, he chooses the word, and hilarity ensues. Dinner time just became fun family time (to my amazement)! Goal accomplished!
I hope some of these tips transform your dinner time like they did for us!
Happy eating!
Fun Preschool Math and Matching Game
Mad libs are fantastic – we love them here too!! Such great tips to help get through dinnertime. P.S. I think the only way my kids could make it through four hour french dinner would be with unlimited croissants 🙂
Hi Janine, Yes I know, for mine it would have to be chocolate croissants!
Hi Ashley,
These are great tips that I look forward to trying with my three and a half year old daughter at HOME. But what about at preschool/daycare? The seats and tables are child height so her body position is good. However her teacher says she always wants to wander around during lunch time, which causes other kids to follow her and is disruptive. Any thoughts?
Hi Nicole,
Hmmmm, great question. Maybe get a book about preschool and talk about expectations? I would also ask the teacher, she may have some suggestions. Let me know if you figure out something that works!