messy eating

[stressbucket1]

Nursery have commented that my 2.8 y/o DD is a messy eater. She does use a spoon and fork sometimes but when she is really enjoying something she tends to use her hands and shovel it in a bit! I didn't think it was a problem at her age but we do encourage her to use her cutlery. I obviously don't want to add any stress to meal times but would a reward chart be worth it or should I just let her get on with it?

Let her get on with it.

Honestly, there is plenty of time for her to get the hang of cutlery. Just give her the option of using it at every meal and ignore nursery.

I would take no notice of nursery whatsoever. They can get a bit hung up on trying to get children to be as grown up as possible. Your DD is still at the age where she needs to be able to explore food with all of her senses. The daft thing is that they are probably planning messy play sessions where she does the same with gloop or similar and will have no issue with her making a mess then.

If she is still choosing not to use cutlery when she's 10 you may have an issue. Until then I wouldn't worry. She knows how to use it but prefers to use her hands. That's fine.

Thanks for your quick replies! I will ignore nursery and carry on as we are. I totally agree with her exploring her food because she is quite fussy about food anyway and it is a good way for her to get used to new foods.

I wouldn't worry, but if there are games you could play with cutlery to hone her skills it might help move her along?