Meal times should be enjoyable and a good time to interact quiety and pleasantly with your child

The best way to encourage table manners and appropriate mealtime behaviours are to model the behaviour yourself and to remain positive, calm and relaxed about the whole thing

Eating with your child is a good way to establish the eating habits you would like and models the way you would like them to behave and the manners you would like to encourage at meal times.

It may not always be possible to sit but if it is, and if it's done from a young age, you will see the difference in their eating habits and the way they are formed. For example, if you have a fussy eater, when you are sitting with them in a relaxed environment and eating with them then you can encourage them to try the foods just like you are eating, perhaps even sharing food from your plate. By sitting with the child they will also learn that meal times are for talking and interacting, not playing. 

 It is important to be seated and it's not recommended to follow the child around with the food on a spoon, it not only is unsafe but sets the child up for the wrong meal time behaviour and you may find that it is actually taxing for all involved. 

Allow the child to decide what they would like to eat off their plate, as you have already decided upon the selection so now it is their choice. If they don't eat what is on offer, don't offer more food as this is allowing them to demand the types of food they want and promotes fussy eating. If they refuse to eat any of the foods then remain calm and leave it at that. Monitor the child’s eating in the next few hours or the following day but generally they will not starve themselves. In fact it generally has the opposite effect in that they will soon realise that what is on offer is all that is on offer. We also would suggest not offering more food of their choice later as this just shows them to wait and they can make their own choices and usually it is not the preferred foods. If you must offer something else you can offer a small snack later, but a healthy one and sometime later after they have had some play or done something else. This should not apply if it is the evening meal as there is not time for this to occur and it also shows them that if they don't have what is on offer then they need to wait till the next meal. 

If they become disinterested or start to play with their food then remove it without commenting, or in reality without much of a comment. If they have calmed down (sometimes they may become distressed about the food being taken even if they are not showing any interest in eating it) or ask for it back then pass it back but if the behaviour continues when they have it back remove it again and not return it.