Who has got a surefire (or even a vaguely successful strategy) for teaching a child to chew with lips closed that doesn't involve endlessly repeating.....

[Earlybird]

....chew with your lips together....keep your mouth closed when you eat please.

I feel as if I should tape the message and play it on continuous loop during mealtimes. DD is 6.9 - surely old enough to have mastered this basic level of table manners? Help please!

aghhhhhhh i dont know, ds2 who is 5 can do this fine, ds1 who is 8 is a nightmare i am always telling him, ie half a dozen times every dinner however i have noticed recently that he sometimes 'gulps' for breath when he does chew with is mouth closed, he is also a very heavy and noisy breather at night and often seems a bit blocked up. my mum who is a nurse has suggested taking him to the drs to get his adenoids checked?

sometimes the nasal passageways in children are quite small and i know this can make it hard to eat with your mouth closed as well.

good luck

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think the problem is a physical one. She simply forgets, as it isn't important to her, and somehow isn't 'programmed' into her brain to be an unconscious thing.

Sometimes I feel/sound like a parrot: 'squawk, chew with your mouth closed, squawk'.

Surely someone else has this issue? Or do you all have dc with perfect manners?

I know how you feel - DS1 used to eat with his mouth shut but now doesn't. He is 7.3 and I don't know why he is suddenly like this. I am wondering if he is copying it from school.

However, like 3madboys I do wonder if he is slightly blocked up as he can't drink through a straw without stopping for breath. Either that or they need help with the breathing.

I don't have an answer I'm afraid. Somebody could make a fortune if they did a cd of the well worn parenting phrases which allow us to avoid all the awful repetition.

I suppose the only other thing we can do is set a good example. I remember my parents having a go at me (although I thought I did have my mouth closed) at the same age so maybe it is another one of those phases.

I wouldn't mind but DS2 is copying for attention's sake.

there's a vile little film of an American woman dressed like a fairy eating with her mouth full

it puts you off Americans, fairies and eating

Let's try another angle: at what age do children typically chew with lips together by habit without constant reminders?

When me and my brother were kids, my father once said "At this table, you eat with your mouth closed, if you want to eat dinner at all."

Worked on us.

Ds2 (aged 8) has this problem and says that it is because he can't breathe!! I did take him to the GP who said that I just have to wait for him to grow bigger!