Not cutting up DS’ grapes?

[moryn]

I was approached by a member of staff at pick up today, to tell me that the kitchen staff expressed concerns that DS’ grapes were whole and not cut up.

He’s 7.5. He chews properly, sits still to eat etc.

I was under the impression that the guidance is for children aged 5 and below.

AIBU here?

This. With bells on.

So is there a reason why children can’t bite the grape?

Stop giving them to your children if they can’t eat them.

No, I explained how it happened. I was chewing the meat (a perfectly normal-sized piece) and I sneezed before I had finished chewing the meat so it wasn’t ready to swallow at that point.

Not sure if you’re wilfully ignorant or just a bit dense.

I have never heard of cutting up grapes (apart from in recent years), I survived 54 years with uncut grapes.

Oh my goodness, that's horrifying.

This is why kids have teeth yah?

It doesn’t cause anxiety. It’s just one step of prep. The same amount of effort as peeling a fucking banana.

Seriously I’m sorry if a child has died from choking on a grape. That’s sad and I’ve honestly never heard of it happening. 😢

Fuck me.

7 year old child puts whole grape in mouth and hasn’t started to chew it yet. Child sneezes. Fire alarm goes off. Dog barks. Another child runs past and knocks into the grape-eating child’s seat. Any of these things could happen to distract the child, and the grape goes down.

I’m pleased for you. Nobody has said that eating whole grapes will DEFINITELY result in death.

Neither.

You choked on a bit of meat - what does that have to do with scary grapes?

This in February, desperately sad: https://www.kbtx.com/2026/03/24/8-year-old-dies-after-choking-grape-school-well-never-forget-about-you/

It’s scary that you have to explain this. Apparently everyone that has ever choked on food hasn’t learned how to eat properly 🤦‍♀️

So again, why risk giving them to your child in the first place

Other fruit is available

Because you can eliminate that risk by…. Cutting them in half!

I cut them for my 7 year old. I remember that poor boy who died choking on one in Pizza Hut. They get stuck in the airway, something about the skin making them hard to get out.
I don’t cut them for my older child but I have told her to bite into them straight away.

Everyone saying it’s the size/texture that’s the issue - surely a good reason not to buy them!

Surely at 13 he can cut his own grapes.

My child is 15 months old so it’s irrelevant as I will be cutting his grapes for as long as I see fit. I also cut them into quarters

If you’re too lazy to spend a few seconds cutting grapes, that’s fine, but you don’t get to mock or belittle other parents for making the tiniest effort to keep their own children a little bit safer.

DD is 9, DS is 12

I do not send the kids into school with grapes, because I know the lunchroom is rock n roll and I bet they don't even stay sitting down to eat

Not worth it IMHO

Just liquidise them and remove the risk

I have genuinely never taken more than a minute to cut grapes up and I’ve never had the soggy issue? If we’re out and about they don’t tend to have grapes anyway.

I entirely disagree with the second part, that’s an almost ridiculous leap. It doesn’t increase anxiety around food - it’s just one particular food that is a notorious choking issue that can very easily be resolved. I’ve never met anyone who feeds their child solely UPFs because they were told to cut some grapes up, but I have met someone whose child died in those circumstances. It happens, and it’s a risk you can almost entirely mitigate.

The size, aye. When you cut them in half… you halve the size.

I wouldn't advocate liquidising children.