To ask nursery to cut their grapes into quarters?

[AliceTheCamelHasFiveHumps]

So, DD14m attends nursery.

They give fruit snacks out each day.

They cut grapes in half lengthwise. (I know this for gross reasons 😷)

I tend to do quarters for safety, as per advice.

AIBU to ask them to cut the grapes into quarters??? Or am I being precious 🥺😳

@ChaBishkoot

I think people who say ‘you can choke on anything’ are missing the point. Even with the equipment paramedics have grapes are almost impossible to dislodge.

So it is NOT about mindful eating or learning to chew. It’s about remembering that IF you choked on a grape versus a piece of pear, the former is significantly more dangerous. Even if the ambulance did get to you on time.

Yes, but the reason the advice is lengthwise is because without the firm skin, they become more like most other foods.

If pople want to go to the trouble of cutting into quarters it's fine I guess, but my concern would be that it discourages proper chewing. Children need to learn to chew well, if they get food cut up in small pieces, and purees when they are small, they don't learn. I've had kids come to me as toddlers who have only had purees and they have the same learning curve for real food as a baby at six months.

Good table manners, not eating or fooling around while talking, and chewing properly are all the best approach to avoiding choking accidents as a child or adult and can begin when they are still toddlers. Continuing to cut up food for a seven or nine year old just keeps them dependent.

I thought the general advice was to cut lengthways into quarters? Updated fairly recently.

My youngest left nursery last year but they used to ask parents to do this for packed lunches (when the first started, they asked us to cut in half lengthways). Nursery manager was understandably hot on this, though, as she had lost her 18 month old nephew after he choked on a grape.

[quote SakuraEdenSwan1]@SmokedDuck have you ever seen any one choke? [/quote]
Yes, I have, why do you keep asking people that as if it is some kind of gotcha?

It really isn't.

"Yes, I have, why do you keep asking people that as if it is some kind of gotcha?"

Exactly. I've seen people choke, it's not rare 😂

People aren’t cutting up all food for 7 and 9 year olds 😂 just grapes because they are a particular choking hazard.

@Puddymuddle

People aren’t cutting up all food for 7 and 9 year olds 😂 just grapes because they are a particular choking hazard.

Kids that age can cut grapes up themselves, if they want to take that approach.

Or they could avoid talking while eating, horsing around, and chew carefully.

I used to cut DD grapes into 1/4 when she was smaller, I now just cut into 1/2 unless they are particularly big. She's nearly 3.

Course @SmokedDuck, let children decide whether to chop grapes. 9 year olds have amazing risk assessment skills. They also never talk, laugh or walk with their mouth full when they shouldn't....

FWIW you can get grape choppers for less than £3 that cut into quarters. Great for fruit salads.

@ChonkyChook

Course *@SmokedDuck*, let children decide whether to chop grapes. 9 year olds have amazing risk assessment skills. They also never talk, laugh or walk with their mouth full when they shouldn't....

You could, you know, teach them to do it.

It's generally a good idea to teach children basic skills, like eating.

Most nine year olds are capable of getting a simple meal on their own, I would really hope they'd be able to cut their own food and chew it. Unless they have specific issues around coordination or behaviour and development, if they can't manage their own food at that basic a level, the parents aren't doing them any favours.

Surely the nursery is following health advice ?
You're being but ott

YANBU at all given small children have died choking on grapes.

Grapes terrify me. Maybe it’s irrational. I just don’t have them in the house. And I’m amazed that a nursery would serve them as snack for small children given the known risks, where there are so many alternatives available.

[quote minniemango]@FFSAllTheGoodOnesArereadyTaken that's disgusting and unsafe, why do your nursery allow that?[/quote]
I thought all nursery’s did this. Between my DCs they have been to 4 different nurseries and it’s been done in all of them. It’s no different to kids swiping each other’s drinks or them all sticking the same toys in each other’s mouths. Why do you think sickness and infections spread so fast in nurseries.

I used to quarter grapes for my dc when they were small, there were a number of cases of choking toddlers reported in the news at the time. Now at 16 and 18 they are fruit dodgers

@SmokedDuck I agree with you. My 3yo likes to cut her own grapes, it’s not always pretty but she has fun chasing them when they fly off the plate.

My 8yo can do a lot of basics, making easy things, cereal, toast, sanwhiches, peel and cut fruits, make a bottle for her sister when she’s tired. She loves the responsibility and makes her own lunches for school, my 6yo has started to ask to do things too. It’s no different to when I was a child and myself and my siblings would go downstairs early to watch Saturday morning tv, making our own breakfasts. My DCs love doing it now, they have learnt if they are very quiet doing it they get to watch what they want (youtube) before we tell them to turn them off 😂

Never let a child eat fruit in a nursery, or eat any food.

Just let them be given Fijian Spring Water which you have flown in from Suva weekly.

And no other child should even look at the bottle.

From working with children it only has to be halves.

I'm really surprised, my DD primary school doesn't allow grapes in packed lunch at all!

I've said YANBU because DDs nursery issues regular bulletins about child stuff on the app, and a recurring one is to cut grapes into quarters.

A paramedic friend told me that even they are unlikely to get a stuck grape out of an adult who is choking, let alone a child. Apparently the skin has tiny little burrs on it that makes it stick fast.

My DM used to play with us how many whole grapes we could fit in our mouths without chewing. I think my record was something like 14. Makes me feel ill just thinking about it now!

I thought it was halves.

Yanbu. Ask them to do this or ask them not give them grapes.

Shudders at the thought

Also yes to PP who said to cut up sausages as well! I think that one is less talked about

Huh.
Never cut up grapes. Supervised them eating and would take them away of they don't bite them in half first. From this thread, I feel bad for not considering it at the time.
Popcorn was a worse choking hazard in my mind and mine never ate it till they were at least 7.
Also the snake lollies things nearly choked one of my sons, as he didn't chew it enough and I had to sit on him to urgently pull a snake lolly out of his windpipe at three.

I don’t leave my kids unattended to eat either - but when my six year old was sitting next to me choking on a grape, she was completely silent - but fortunately being six, had the sense to grab my sleeve and tug it. Thank goodness I didn’t ignore her, like we do often do!