To still be cutting up my 4 year old's grapes?

[surreygirl1987]

Was at a party this afternoon. The host had an amazing fruit platter prepared for the kids in the village hall. Grapes weren't cut up. Most parents plonked grapes on their kids' places without cutting them, or let the kids help themselves. These are 3-4 years olds. I plucked a bunch off and tore them into smaller pieces for my 4 year old (as I know grapes are a choking hazard). Am I the one being unreasonable here or are the other parents? I do think I was the only one that was bothered but I thought grapes can still be risky at 4...? What do other parents do??

I've only just stopped doing it and ds is 4 and a half.

I cut my own grapes up! I'm so used to doing it for my 4 and 5 year old that it's just automatic now. TBH I think they actually taste better in half so might just carry on indefinitely

Well the 28.and 20 year olds have managed not to choke on a grape since getting older and me not being around and no longer cutting up their food for so I think it's OK to carry on cutting them up for primary age children. It won't stop them learning how to chew long term 🙄

I cut up grapes but don't automatically cut up cherry tomatoes, meatballs and other foods unless they have stones I need to remove.

My DD 4 will automatically take bites of all other foods but grapes are simply too small.

My ds choked on a whole grape when he was 4. He refused to eat them cut up as he didn’t like the look of the insides so although I didn’t like it, I gave them to him whole. He choked, luckily I was in the room as I wouldn’t leave him on his own with whole grapes, couple of back slaps later and it shot out like a champagne cork. Bloody scary. From that moment on he has never eaten a whole grape again! He’s now 7 and I still cut them in half lengthways. So many parents never think it’s going to happen to them, same as mini eggs, small kids shouldn’t eat them. Life can change in a second.

@Antsinmypantsneedtodance "What happens the day you're not there though?" I've never not been there until we've been past the cut up grapes stage!

I still cut up grapes for my 12 year old!

Thinking on these lines, should I not hold my son's hand when we cross the road because one day he'll need to manage it without me?

A local primary school child died in school after choking on a grape some years ago, so yadnbu to cut them....I cut them for packed lunches for my 8 and 10 year

My children don't eat them but I work in a nursery and they have to be quartered. I was eating some earlier and thinking to myself how easy it would be to choke on one even as an adult.

Encourage them to always bite a grape in half, rather than out the whole thing in their mouth.

I have a DC at 12 and two at 7, I still cut up their grapes, regardless of age, grapes are the perfect size and shape to block your throat. Of course it's much less likely they will choke the older they get, but it's not hassle to cut them up so I just do it.

Still cut them for my 6yr old

DS is 3.5 and I still half his grapes. He attends a nursery attached to a school so we get the school notifications too and they sent a message out just the other day reminding parents to half the children's grapes.

My son is 15 and I still cut grapes up 😳

Can someone explain the best way to cut sausages? I have only given either strips or very small pieces to pick up with fingers so far to my 9 month old, but how should I be giving them once he's old enough to use cutlery or eat a hot dog?

I still chop my 9 year olds because he never stops talking, even when eating, and I worry he'll choke.
I let him have them whole at home but I worry about school when he's distracted

I still cut up my 5 and 7 year olds grapes, I'd rather that than them choke.

The liklihood of coming into contact with a road without you or another adult there, at a young age is less likely than them coming into contact with grape/cherry tomato/other choking hazard food. As the OP pointed out most parents didn't care. Which implies that at play dates, parties, school even they may come into contact with the item.

Also your child i would assume by age 2 should have basic understanding of road safety (mine does!) And the same applies to other risks. You can't teach them overnight it's a process. Parents need to start the process in a safe enviorment with them, with basic choking first aid knowledge, before they go out solo into the world.

Some ofnthese posts are implying the cutting up grape stage goes well into school years. Your child has been with you 24/7 till their teens? Poor kid.

Always cut - kids are 3, 7 and 9. I joke to my 9 year old I’ll still be cutting them when he’s 20. I choked on a boiled sweet when I was 7 and me nearly died. Don’t care if anyone thinks I’m overly anxious. I think that’s really odd at a party for 3/4 years they weren’t cut.

My DS choked on a grape when he was 7. He would have been dead before the ambulance arrived if I hadn't managed to dislodge it. We were incredibly lucky but it certainly also dislodged any sense of complacency I had.

What about satsumas, I've just started letting my 4.5 year old have them independently but I'm one who also cuts up big blueberries!

People saying they cut for their preteen and teenage children. The idea of cutting grapes for pubescent, potentially sexually active, adolescents seems bizarre to me. They are also old enough to cut their own grapes.

I still cut up for my 11 and 14 year old in lunchboxes and here’s why….

DSis is a paediatric a&e registrar. I go on what she tells me to do. She bases this in real life experiences.

cherry toms and grapes cut in half or on an angle. Sausages sliced longways before being sliced smaller. A finger of sausage for a toddler
is safer than discs. Ditto hot dogs. Marshmallows and popcorn are fine but not in a room alone - they are dry and don’t move down the windpipe easily if stuck.

At home or in a restaurant it’s lower age, but messing on a playground or crowded hall where it takes minutes for help to be alerted - absolutely not.

also, randomly, absolutely no small bouncy balls in the house. She has seen a child death due to this - they are absolutely lethal in the back of the mouth. Any in party bags or as gifts are instantly removed.