13yr old asking mummy to cut up food- no SEN!

[Sickofthehip]

Friends came for a meal recently with their 11 and 13yr old children. No physical problems, no SEN. The younger one asked their mum to cut up their meal, then the 13yr old asked the same.
I don't have children, nor much contact with similar aged children, but is this a common thing to do now for tween/teens?

No, of course it's not a common thing for secondary aged kids.

Had you served something tough?

Weird.

Maybe if it was steak or something difficult to cut ? What wad the food?

The first time I met my ex husbands mother we ate out and she genuinely asked if he wanted her to cut his sandwich 🙄 I should have known then

Absolutely not common. My 11 yr old ds finds some things difficult like tying laces and sometimes cutting meat. I could see that he might want me to do it because he would embarrass himself doing it badly or sending food flying through the air, but he would ask discreetly and I'd help him. We'd then practice the specific thing at home so he could do it next time. That's only very unusual if there is something new.

Not common of course and likely to bring ridicule to the child.

However you cant say 'no SEN', you dont know for sure, perhaps friend hasnt disclosed anything to dyou. Perhaps the child has SEN but hasnt been diagnosed. Perhaps the child has emotional difficulties not related to an LD as such and is regressing for a period of time.

I’m sure they have their reasons. My teen dd can’t turn keys in locks or open certain lids but my friends wouldn’t know that unless it happened in front of them. Maybe they struggle.

Who cares? Each to their own.

Maybe the food was tough or the knives not very sharp? Whatever it is I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

i just cut my 17 year olds meat for tea although ND but he eats more that way .

what did you cook ?

it doesn’t have to be ND can be hyper mobility or quite a few other reasons

My five year old uses a knife and fork, an awful lot of his friends don't, they use a fork or fingers. I helped him today cut the skin of a jacket potato , he was trying but his knife just wasn't sharp enough.

I would think 11 and 13 is very unusual to ask for food to be cut for them.

It’s not normal, no. I have an 11 year old and I might cut something for her if she is really struggling after trying on her own. But not up into lots of pieces, like literally just cut some meat off the bone for her. But maybe it was hard to cut or the knife was rubbish.

My mum, who I am NC with for entirely unrelated reasons, cuts her whole meal up into tiny toddler pieces the moment it is set down on the table. There’s nothing wrong with her either, other than the table manners of a goose, but it used to make me wish the floor would swallow me up when we had nice dinners with dh’s family.

I recently asked my mum to cut me a slice of crusty bread because I always make a mess of it.
I’m 40 🤣🤣

Probably not common but who knows, my son couldn't tie his shoelaces until he was 15.. No matter how many times I tried to show him!!
He's an electrician now and fiddles around with wires and whatnot all day. I remember being really worried about the fact he couldn't do it, I bet there's lots of things people might take ages to learn (like cutting up food) but the parents don't shout it from the roof tops because of all the judging.

No, it certainly isn't normal. My GC have been using cutlery independently since the age of about 5

Just thought of another one, same 22 year old electrician son.. who re wired a 120 year old lift that takes people up and down the side of a cliff face this week CAN NOT for the life of him butter bread without ripping it into shreds 😂

Are we talking spag bol or quail?

Oh stop with the faux wide eyed ‘is this normal now?’ act.

We knew, and you know, that you’ve written this to enjoy scoffing and ridiculing the kids and their Mother.

My 30 yr old at the time DH once asked me to cut a bite sized flapjack into 4 because he had a cold and couldn’t face chewing so much in one go.

Maybe the 11 yr old was struggling, and 13 ye old just wanted to be coddled for a bit? Honestly OP, not your circus, not your monkeys. Your sample size of 1 teen and 1 pre-teen is unlikely to be indicative of society as a whole.

Perhaps the child had hurt their wrist / was recovering from an injury you didn't know about.

Her cutting it up didn't hurt anyone so what's the issue

Definitely weird. Not doing the children any favours at all to keep them as preschoolers like that. I havent cut up my kids food since they were about 5-6.

You might need to adjust your cooking techniques op

Haha

Joking aside, no. They should be able to cut up meat

Is it typical for a 13 year old. Is usual for a child to be ahead of their expected abilities in some areas and behind in others? Yes. At that age I couldn't ride a bike or read an analogue clock, and also felt uncomfortable eating in other strangers' houses and regressed a bit.