to be shocked at a mother feeding her 7 and 4 year old DS's yoghurt with a spoon?

[Anna8888]

Franco-American mother I know a little - her DSs are at the same school as my daughter. They were having a picnic lunch in the park yesterday and she fed them each a yoghurt (in its entirety) with a spoon.

Well the fact is ds (3.7) CAN feed himself but will usually choose to do so with his fingers if he can get away with it. He also feeds himself so slowly and gets so distracted and then gets bad tempered with hunger that sometimes I do feed him. I am more likely to load the fork though and leave it for him to put the food in his mouth himself. He is an incredibly messy eater though.

As for a 7 year old - That does seem a bit old but I do remember my niece asking for help when she was eating sometimes at around 5/6 years old. If she asked I helped her by feeding her a few mouthfuls of food off a fork/spoon- I saw no reaasn not to really.

Also don't get why a SAHM is more likely to encourage independence in children than a working mum but maybe shouldn't go down that route or the thread will get a whole lot more heated...

My parenting skills would definitely not pass the Anna8888 test....
but I agree, this is an EXTREMELY important issue and i hope we hit the magical 1000 posts in an effort to really resolve it....

I'd be more concerned with the type of yoghourt. Was it organic? Was it "live" - did it contain baccillus infantilis?

I am shocked that I have wasted time reading this thread. and realised that I would be shocked if in "my world" a 7yr old if fed themselves.

it was a dead yoghurt, swedes. it had shuffled off its mortal foil (lid).

Aitch People do odd things in the grip of grief. We should not be intruding.

I was right!!
I knew there couldn't possibly be another Anna just like you dear.
Don't worry, my DS's normally feed themselves, just knew this would be perfect MN fodder and was hoping to uncover Anna in RL.
WE must do lunch one day Darrrrrrling.

I'm Franco-American sweetie, I speak English as a first language.

We all know that in RL Anna888 lives in a high rise flat in Coventry.

I am expecting my first child after years of working full time. I am going to be part time working from home after she is born, for as long as the finances hold out! And God HELP me if I start worrying about how other kids eat dairy-based snacks. I just think if you are that exercised about the progress or otherwise of other children...you need to get out more. I am sorry Anna. Genuinely. I really don't mean to be rude to you. I am sure your kid is very advanced and you like to let people know it. But, hey, you know...read a book or sumtin'. Which is what I should be doing instead of reading this daft thread!

Big lol @ "dairy based snacks"

pmsl at dairy based snacks!
well said!

he's an NT 7-year-old, people. it is WEIRD. i'm judging my arse off, here.

TMMJ - I'm just having a water-based beverage.

am about to go and make a water and caffeine based hot beverage.
have just had a small dairy and wheat based snack.

Swedes -

so what.

I would've been more shocked if she'd been doing it with a sharp knife.

Arf. I've had a bit of a computer based afternoon. I should really go and have a children based hour before my Wibledon on TV based evening.

Well, if you train your mumsnetting telescopes on my kitchen sometime between 6.30 and 7 tonight you will be able to observe me cutting up meat and spuds for...an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old. And what is more- they are both bilingual!

I was not aware that all SN were based on linguistic processing. Now that I know I might invest in a pair of blinds. I wouldn't want any Mumsnetters to suffer from unnecessary shock, raised blood pressure, palpitations etc on my behalf.

SixSpot - am very sorry if I've been complicit in making life any harder for you (I noticed that you were rather upset by this thread).

Well, I do wonder how Anna or anyone else can know for certain that a child does not have SN.

It took years before I knew my friend's dd had Aspergers. Before, I really did judge their parenting, every time I met them. They seemed to be babying her in the most outrageous fashion. It was only afterwards that I realised that their parenting was based on experience.

Same with my other friends- their parenting seemed very odd. Until the day they told me that both their children were autistic. And then quite a few things fell into place.

My dd you would know about her physical disability on one of the days she is using a crutch or in a wheelchair, not otherwise.

Ds you wouldn't know unless I told you: I reckon most of his friends don't know.