Manners maketh toddlers?

[ImpatientGriselda]

My DD (aged 14 months) was told off today at nursery for putting food into her mouth and taking it out and looking at it again, and this telling off apparently provoked a tantrum.

We are fairly relaxed re playing with food at home, as I see it as natural experimentation. I encourage her to use a spoon, but don't stress out if she e.g. wants to eat Weetabix with her fingers.

I think the nursery may be expecting too much too soon, and I worry that being too strict now may lead to food issues, but what do you think? She generally eats very well at the moment, and I don't want to lose that.

I think they are expecting too much from a 14mo!

of course they are expecting too much!

how did they tell her off?

They are expecting way too much from a 14mo, DD does that and is only 16mo. That is one of the reasons I thank god I have two very greedy dogs and a carpet cleaner lol.

I have only had this just now second-hand from DP, so haven't heard the full story from the nursery, but I bet they tried to put her in time-out - they did this once before when she bashed another baby, but I was rather surprised that they would think that it would work at her age...

i would tell them what i think that my dd can do with her food as she pleases we are relaxed about food at home and remind them only just over a yr old they shouldn't expect anything from her

my ds is nearly 4 will still pick food up with his fingers uses cutlery too but still uses fingers i have never been picky about how he eats and he has the greatest appetite in the world always tries different foods adores vegetables and fruit

just be straight with them you do not want them telling off a baby over eating habits that shouldn't be there yet anyway

who ever told her off obviously has an issue with food that you dont want bought around your dd

I didn't query the time-out before, as they are generally great people at the nursery, who are obviously massively fond of DD, and I assumed that they knew what they were doing and that it was usual practice. However, I will find out if they've done it again and have a quiet word...

The only thing I do try to actively discourage food-wise is banging the bowl so that the food flies all over the walls...but I would never actually tell DD off for this.