dropping food

[berrypicking]

my one year old has recently found it very fun to drop his spoons and food on the floor. I didn't want him to grow up thinking this was OK to do so I told him no quite firmly, well it ended in tears and I felt terrible. This same thing happened again this evening and I just felt I was doing the wrong thing. Now I think I should be letting him make a little mess and I am probably making dinner time more stressful for us both. I feel terrible and now if I let him do it he will be confused as to why I suddenly allow it. any advice welcome!

first of all I'd like to say well done to your son for being able to use a spoon at 1. Most 1 years use there hands and tip there bowls upside down.

When you say dropping his spoon do you mean accedently dropping it or throwing it?

If its a accident then no I wouldn't tell him off, just pick up the spoon and give it back and maybe help him a little,

If he's throwing it then he's just playing. I don't believe a 1 year old can really be naughty, I'd just say no don't through your spoon you need to use that. he will be doing this kind of thing for a couple of years yet and yes he will make mess,

Don't feel bad for telling him off though, He's probably forgotten by now. Do what you feel is best for you and your son,

Good luck you sound like a lovely mum and very caring, You won't damage your son by telling him off do don't worry and you won't be teaching your son bad manners for not telling him off.

Not much help but my 1 year old has been doing this for months with mearly every meal.

He thinks its hilarious, sometimes does it when hes full, sometimes just for a laugh. I tend to feed him wet/bowl food myself rather than give it him in his high chair.

Iv shouted, told him nice...everything! Atm im just assuming its a phase. I hope so anyway. I just tell him off when he does it. Hopefully hell get the message?

If anyone has a solution im all ears too, nthing iv done has stopped him yet, just giving him bit by bit rather than the lot also.

By telling him off i dont mean going mad or anything. Just read that back and it sounded bad just simply telling him no not too do it.

annad25 - yes it's by purpose and a game to him, I say no give it back and he does it again. We are trying to teach him to eat with a spoon and got his special bowl which is suppose to help them do that, I will add he has not quite mastered it yet and will probably take a while

I think I will try and let him be more playful with his food for now. Maybe he has finished with his food and is not hungry anymore, so will see if taking his bowl away will work (but not in a nasty way).

It's so hard sometimes to know the best thing to do when it comes to discipline and he is only 1 so I don't want him to get a complex about the word no which I can see happening.

I thought they were learning about things like gravity by dropping things and it was important for them to do so, so I am happy for them to drop things off the table and I just clear it all up later. It was just a short phase with my two and I wanted to save "No" for things which were safety issues etc.

That makes sense. I think I will take your advice on that. Today I decided to go about it in a calm way and didnt tell him off when he dropped something and just took the item he was dropping away, he didn't kick up a fuss and seemed happy so will see how that goes for now.
Thanks for the advice all! I feel a lot better now having read your comments [sm

My dd is only 10 mo and I pre load the spoon and hand it to her to eat her yoghurt.

She went through a phase of dropping it, so I would say no and take my time picking it up and handing it back. If she dropped it on the tray I would say well done, big smiles etc and quickly re load and hand back.

She now tends to hand it to me unless she's full, but I don't know if she'll carry on doing this as she gets older.