A six year old should be capable of feeding himself?

[Handsup]

My friend still has to sit and physically feed her 6 and half year old. He'll feed himself at school but once home it's her job again. Aibu to think 'sort it out?'.

Ahhh that's terrible Pretty, my parents always did that and I still have no sense of portion control and cannot step away from a meal til it's finished. I give my DC's small portions and let them help themselves/leave what they don't want, because I refuse to have them grow up as crap with food as I am.

I once ate a huge ready-meal shepherd pie from Asda that was supposed to contain 6 servings. By myself. In one go. And I can destroy a 4 person trifle without needing to pause for breath. I am a revolting creature and only my job keeps me from being the lady needing crane-lifting out of the window to visit the Dr.

Btw, my question wasn't rhetorical. My son is in his teens and I genuinely forgot the behavioural patterns of young children. I did ask my friend shouldn't he be feeding himself and she said he won't..I thought it was a bit of a cop out yadda yadda.

I certainly wouldn't do it, mainly because I couldn't be arsed. I bloody love BLW :)

My boy isn't great with cutlery but he can eat with very little input from me. (He's 2).

From what you've said you know he is capable of feeding himself though OP.

I can understand how disheartening it is when you have really made an effort with dinner and they eat two mouthfuls and that's it.

or how embarrassed you might feel when someone's cooked you dinner and your kids barely touch it.

but appetites do vary and some days they really dint want anything. and a host who huffed about a kid not devouring an entire three course meal and seconds is not a host I'd want to be visiting

and how hard or is to switch off when throughout baby hood all the focus is on weight gain. feed them this or that or feed them more he's not gained enough this week. baby looses a few grams due to a cold and off or all starts again.

but really once they are able to hold a knife and fork They should be left to try. by 18 months-2 I'd expect all NT healthy toddlers to need no more than cutting up some eat or helping to scrape the bowl.

There comes a point where they need to learn that if they wont feed themselves or they can't be bothered to carry on feeding themselves then that's it once they get down they are down and there's nothing more.

If a kid stops eating he's either full or just lazy. why would you risk giving them more than they really want. If he's lazy then they will soon.learn they will go hungry.

I watch a daily vlog on YouTube and there are twins in the family who turned 1 on 7th March. They have been feeding themselves for a couple of months at least. To be feeding a child of 6 yrs is ludicrous.

I feed my DD who has ASD, as she will not do it herself. We avoid restaurants and with these sorts of attitudes will continue to do so .

It's somehow a very British attitude that once a child is physically capable of feeding themselves no one should every do it for them again.

Fair enough if you don't want to feed your child or they don't want to be fed, but no one has really suggested what the problem is with a child wanting to be fed sometimes?

Oh Charlotte, Im very sorry that happened to you

Children are like chipmonks, they eat a lot one day and nothing the next. It's a natural thing to do. That's why I am an advocate of self feeding. They eat exactly enough. To feed them, when they can do it themselves, does more damage than good.

Constant.
you do what you need to do. I'm too busy watching my own family in restaurants to notice what anyone else is doing.

This discussion is about people feeding kids who don't need to be fed.

not people who have to do so.

Its a very non british attitude to shovel food in the mouths of the young where its not necessary.

Because by making it so effortless and quick to feed them ket you run the risk of overriding their feelings of fullness. especially if they happen to really like the attention and that snapshot of time they spend with you.

I think you've been doing it wrong if you were shovelling food into anyone PrettyFeet!

I've seen children "shovelling" food into their own mouths pretty quickly Giles, maybe they're overriding their own feelings of fullness?

I wonder where they learned to shovel food into themselves though (ponders)

Well tats bad manners and one would hope parents would put a stop to shovelling and teach their kids to eat nicely.

something They won't learn if mummy has the spoon

So... parents can teach a child not to eat too quickly, but they wouldn't be able to not feed a child too quickly themselves

And honestly, SN or disabilities or medical needs aside, I'd assume that it was all for parental Convenience. or because mummy can't let go.

Kids like lots of things that aren't good for them.or would hinder development. It's up to parents to know when to say no as it will do more harm than good

Its a word Giles and you know exactly what I mean when I use it so stop being such a smart arse. Actually thinking about it, smart arses wipe their own

Well your not going to be teaching them to eat nicely if your feeding them.are you

I was talking to ket

I know what you mean pretty

Of course he should be feeding himself.

It's possible for a child to feed themselves and sometimes want to be fed too.

You do seem to have made a lot of assumptions Giles!

It's also possible to say no and have them.feed themselves as they aren't a baby. and by 4/5 a parents days of their meals going cold while you feed another person should be well and truly Over