At what age did you give your child a knife to use during meals at the table?

[GreatGooglyMoogly]

And did you pre-cut their meal anyway or expect them to do it straight away?

Just wondering how and when to teach ds1 to use a knife as presumably he will need to do this by the time he goes to school (still 18 months away)?

about 2-2.5, he was probably using it reasonably well by 3.5 and very proficiently now at 4.10.

Mine still don't use a knife and they are 6, 4.5 and nearly 3 Is that bad?!

do you cut everything up for them then? I couldn't be bothered

DS is 2.2 and obsessed with having a "sharp knife" (he doesn't say knife, he thinks "sharp knife" is what it's called ). We let him use a plastic IKEA one at home and a real metal one when out, under close supervision. I wouldn't have planned to so soon but he's so into it...

about 2 i think but she didn't get the hang of it properly for a while and tended to stab stuff with it.

I do pre-cut at the moment, but let him chop it smaller - he's not very good at it yet...

My DS1 is about the same age as yours - born May 04 and goes to school Sept 08. He has a knife, fork and spoon with his meals, same as me - but mostly because he wants to be like us. He isn't much good at cutting with it, but likes to try. I haven't really 'taught' him what to do with it, as I think he just watches us and tries to copy. I figure it's not dangerous (they're children's knives) and he can practice.

He's quite good at spreading butter and jam with it though...

Another vote for 2-ish. DS loves his, and gives a running commentary ('chop, chop') but is still pretty useless with it.

DS is 2.5 and has had a knife (toddler knife) for quite a while now (? since he was 2, maybe ?) but he doesn't really know what he's doing with it.

It sounds like I am way overdue giving him one then (DS1 is 3.4)!

Of course, he seems to be going through a phase of eating everything with his hands at the moment anyway (whilst waving his fork and spoon around), but I will give him a knife and see what happens!

HenriettaHippo, why is your DS starting school in Sept 08 when he was born in May 04? My DS1 was born Apr 04 but doesn't start school until Jan 09 [nosey emoticon].

School is very keen for them to know how to use a knife and fork by the start of reception. Also helps the whole "eating out" thing if you're into that.

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Not sure what you mean by eating out? We go to restaurants quite often but I tend to pre-cut anything that needs cutting. Looks like he needs some independence!

School have asked that they practice with using a knife before they start in sept.

Ds was given a knife with his lunch at nursery but apparently used his fork and fingers.

At home he has a spoon and fork. Today I asked him if he wanted a knife and he said 'no, i am only a little boy'.

blimey, I'm a failure on this, dd is 7 & i cut her food up just cos i always have, have given her a knife but she was so hopeless I stopped bothering. She has packed lunch at school so not an issue & we don't eat at the table which doesn't help.

ok, will give it another go soon.

Thing is at restaurants there is always a nice shiny knife on the table already, which my DS can zero in on from 50 yards. By the time I even think about grabbing it out of the way, he's started trying to chop the napkin/table flower/sugar sachets. As long as I'm watching I think it's OK to encourage him.

... to use the knife carefully I mean, not to wreck the floral display

A sharp knife or a blunt knife. My 11 year old is not allowed to use a sharp knife but does cut his food with a blunt knife. My 14 years old can use either. My 8 year old uses blunt knife but he is lazy and always wants me to cut it for him.

my dd is 2.8 and doesnt yet hae a knife i just cut things a bit before it goes to the table!

maybe i should start soon so she can practise!

DD1 had a blunt knife at about 2.5yr and had a lot of food pre-cut until she was around 3.5yr. As I rapidly produced DS1 and DD2 they didn't get such care and attention and have been happily hacking away at their food with knife & fork since about 18months.

They moved from childrens cutlery onto the real stuff at around 4yo. But they will still eat with their hands sometimes and even my 5yo still has difficulty co-ordinating it all sometimes.

I'd let your DS1 start using a blunt toddler knife now so he gets plenty of practice.