How much mess does your 4yo make when eating?

[YunoYurbubson]

4yo dd has just sat at the table and eaten a sandwich and a slice of cake.

THE MESS!

I can't decide if it is time to clamp down a bit and insist on less mess. Or, am I expecting too much?

She wasn't being silly or naughty, just eating nicely and chatting to me.

I spend my whole life wiping the sodding table, sweeping the floor and mopping.

Please give me your exact and specific expectations of your 4yo when eating at the table.

what do you serve your food in? I've started using some wide deep bowls (like big pasta bowls) for DS, also 4, from ikea for 75p each (white china ones) which are so much better than a small plastic plate as I was fed up with the stuff everywhere and the clearing up. If it's rice I still tend to be clearing up the debris and also cereal but if I push him in enough and make sure the bowl is near enough it's not as bad !

DD is 4 and doesn't tend to make too much mess. She will get stuff round her mouth (especially ice cream) but I don't have to do too much clearing of the floor.

I think she might be quite tidy though - DS is 6 and is definitely worse.

Right.

They have just eaten spaghetti bolognaise with peas, and melon for pudding.

There is more mess around 4yo dd than there is around 2yo ds.

Her bit of table is smearier. Her chair is more spagetti strewn. Her bit of floor is more covered in food.

She does have a cleaner face than him though. And she didn't signify the end of the meal by pouring her water onto her plate like he did .

She is not especially clumsy in other ways.

She is just a bit dreamy I think - she gazes out of the window waving her fork around while she chews and sprinkles peas onto the floor.

Bad manners really. I wouldn't have got away with it when I was little, but I am loathe to turn meal times into the nagfest I remember from childhood.

Trying to decide whether to get strict or wait it out.

Does she help clearing it up? 4 isn't too young for some chores. If she had a part in clearing the table it might help her notice the consequences of her actions.

My DD is 3 and is pretty good at not being messy, but she sits next to DS (9 mnths) and critiques his mess, poor lad!

mine are 6 and 8 and I'm seriously considering getting a dog to help with the clearing up

what lionstar said really. I wouldnt expect any mess from a 4 year old, mine is 5. If she had have made a mess she would have had to clear it herself.

Now if she does make a mess she goes and gets the cloth and wipes up without being tole.

It would be embarrassing in a restaurant if 4 year old made such a mess.