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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that 6 is old enough to feed themselves.

43 replies

thelady · 15/08/2007 19:28

Mum, Dad, 6-yo son and 9-mo daughter staying in hotel. Breakfast was cut up for son, and when he stopped eating, mum fed him.... Apparently it takes too long to let him feed himself

WTF?

OP posts:

WanderingTrolley · 15/08/2007 19:29

Um, he may have had sn?

octoandflash · 15/08/2007 19:30

I do cut up my 6 year olds food - habit

Original poster

thelady · 15/08/2007 19:30

Not by the way he was behaving - seemed perfectly capable, articulate, active - and had been eating quite happily up until that point.

I agree it's a possible explanation, tho.

OP posts:

Reallytired · 15/08/2007 19:30

Prehaps there are other issues like dyspraxia thatyou aren't aware of.

I think you should concentrate about parenting your own children. Unless the boy was doing something to really upset you then its none of your business.

RubySlippers · 15/08/2007 19:31

so what if they did?
and what WT said

WigWamBam · 15/08/2007 19:32

I sometimes cut my 6 year old's food up, if it's a bit hard for her to do.

I hope you never sit across the room from me judging me for it!

PhoenixSongbird · 15/08/2007 19:32

What's sn?

PhoenixSongbird · 15/08/2007 19:33

What was he eating? Not cornflakes presumably!

RubySlippers · 15/08/2007 19:33

special needs

phatcat · 15/08/2007 19:37

have you got good eaters then? no doubt you'd be horrifed at some of the strategies we use with our 4 year old who is nearly always very reluctant to eat breakfast - feed him yourself or not have him eat and be really grumpy and lacking in energy and everyone has a bad day as a result? it's a no brainer for me. Please don't judge, certainly not on the basis of one observation.

nightowl · 15/08/2007 19:47

when ds was six he went through a very strange stage with food. stopped eating much, went awfully thin. wouldn't eat anything "slimy". (still wont eat any food that isnt dry). it would take him an hour and a half to eat one meal, or he would spit a mouthfull into the middle of his dinner, knowing then he wouldn't have to eat it. made me very worried and angry at the time but he wasnt being naughty. so there were times, when out of desperation i helped him. it soon passed but you would have thought i was wierd too i expect. they think he has dyspraxia, dont know if that's anything to do with it but he certainly has some strange issues with things.

winemakesmummyclever · 15/08/2007 19:57

Dh's aunt still cuts her son's food up for him. He's 14 btw . And no, he does does not have sn. Just a mad mother

Troutpout · 15/08/2007 20:09

sn perhaps
actually..could be anything..could be picky with food he isn't used to..maybe she was just trying to get him to eat some of it.

coppertop · 15/08/2007 20:23

Ds1 is 7 and still can't cut up his own food. He tries his best but often ends up in tears of frustration. Unless it's something very soft I have to cut his food for him.

SNs aren't always that obvious.

Original poster

thelady · 15/08/2007 20:28

No, I didn't say anything. He had eaten a bowl of frosties, most of a sausage, 2 bacon rashers, and most of a fried egg (all cut up for him), and seemed to have finished (got up from table and started playing).

Mum then started feeding him the rest, and volunteered that if she didn't he'd take all day to finish.

Honestly, I wasn't judging! Just baffled as at that age I'd have thought he'd be eating at school etc. without someone to cut up food for him/feed him. He certainly didn't seem to be a picky eater.

OP posts:

beansprout · 15/08/2007 20:34

But just how much information can you really glean from watching someone in a hotel?

PhoenixSongbird · 15/08/2007 21:13

Sounds to me like he had finished! I always had to finish what was on my plate (so said Mum) and now I have to eat everything even if I'm full - these messages are hard to unlearn (? - you know what I mean ). I try to cook less so I eat less but I'm still quite big.

Original poster

thelady · 15/08/2007 21:24

Hmm. Mum was on the cuddly side, so it could well have been that he was expected to eat it all. He got very upset when I went to clear his place away, though

OP posts:

jellyhead · 15/08/2007 21:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LilyLoo · 15/08/2007 21:41

tbh my ds nearly 6 would need help cutting up sausages and bacon as well

Rachmumoftwo · 15/08/2007 22:00

OMG, the mum was a bit cuddly and she cut up hwer son's food and fed him?!! That is terrible. Perhaps she was cuddly because she had a 9 month old baby? And she wanted her son to have a hearty breakfast that they had paid for? YABU indeed.

Fireflyfairy2 · 15/08/2007 22:05

oh ffs... so a "cuddly" mum is automatically trying to make her child obese.

You work there? ffs... I'd hate to think someone who was paid to clear up after me was judging me

Rachmumoftwo · 15/08/2007 22:11

I would like to know what hotel this is so I never eat there for fear of being judged if I cut up my DDs breakfast.

2shoes · 15/08/2007 22:13

YAB VERY U

aloha · 15/08/2007 22:15

Ach, I'd have done a double take too, and my ds is nearly six and has Aspergers and dyspraxia. I would have cut up his food for him (he cannot coordinate knife and fork at all yet), but not fed him. I think that if he was fine and had eaten so much it was a bit odd to actually feed him, for all sorts of reasons.

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