Children who cannot feed themselves

andrealm

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Nothing wrong with him from what I could observe - no blowing of the nose, no wiping the nose, nothing to suggest any sort of illness. He was also talking and behaving in a normal manner, so no sort of mental disability either. And as mentioned, there was nothing wrong with his dexterity.

And I'm certain the child was at least 5 - he had a school uniform on! What was especially shocking about all of this was the eating with the mouth open - this is such a cultural taboo for us, and I thought it was the same in England?

I'm sure all Polish children have impeccable table manners at all times by the time they are 5. I'm sure none of them ever need to be reminded about good manners. If you find a young child eating with his mouth open to be so shocking, you must have led a sheltered life.:p

onlyroz

My son is 5 and he struggles to cut his food, so I usually assist him, particularly with the meat. He's getting better though. I stopped actually spoon feeding him at around age 2-and-a-half. My daughter is nearly 2 and she's picked up feeding herself much quicker. If I give her a fork and a spoon, and cut up her food small enough she can manage most things (although I do get a bit mad with her when most of the rice crispies end up in her lap rather than in her mouth...)

DueMarch11

Phew, and there was me thinking my 2.5 year old was being a bit slow on the cutlery thing, looks like we have a a year or two left before people start passing judgement...............I hope!!

peachyprice

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Haven't they all left now?

Yes, after bleeding us dry.





Oh, sorry, was I assuming the sterotype of all Polish people coming here because our benefits system provides so readily for them? Naughty me.

Spendless

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Nothing wrong with him from what I could observe - no blowing of the nose, no wiping the nose, nothing to suggest any sort of illness. He was also talking and behaving in a normal manner, so no sort of mental disability either. And as mentioned, there was nothing wrong with his dexterity.

And I'm certain the child was at least 5 - he had a school uniform on! What was especially shocking about all of this was the eating with the mouth open - this is such a cultural taboo for us, and I thought it was the same in England?

Doesn't mean child is 5. 3 year olds go to state (school) nursery here and would wear the uniform of that school. Both mine did.

elisebutt65

My 15yr old looks perfectly fine and normal, but finds it hard to use a knife & fork properly due to hypermobility(also has the problem with pens) as his fingers are too bendy. If he exerts pressure his fingers bend the wrong way! He tends to stick to what I call 'hand food' in public as it's just easier for him. At home I give him food that's easier to cut or cut it smaller.
He can also bend himself into a pretzel but I've told him not to do that in public- lol

Thing is PBS, people aren't always what they look like on the surface?

clairec79

Could well have been my nephew, when we were there for his 5th birthday earlier this year MIL (who has custody) was breaking a sandwich into pieces and putting them into his mouth when he played - she says it's the only way to get him to eat. Strangly enough if he has tea at my house he'll sit at the table with my kids and eat no problems, he just knows he can get away with it with her. As a young toddler she'd say he refuses to eat - after he'd been given 3 packets of chocolate buttons that afternoon of course he can cope without tea, but no, she asked him and he said he wanted MDonalds so she went and brought him one (whereas my then 5 or 6 year old told him he couldn't have a piece of birthday cake after tea because he hadn't eaten his tea)

aloise

I went to Canada for my daughters wedding. One of her bridesmaids was a 10 year old girl. She had to have all her food cut up for her before she could eat it. I was put next to her at the reception and asked if i would cut her food for her and feed her if necessary. I refused, a 10 year old is old enough to feed herself, and the person on the other side of her had to do it. Perfectly normal child but was dreadfully mollycoddled.

Jinx

I think some of you are being a bit harsh on the OP - I am often shocked at the lack of manners / skills that some children have. And I'm 37 not some old fuddy duddy!! I have seen children being fed who are long past the age they should be fed by the parents, no clue how to use cutlery, small children drinking coke out of baby bottles and children with dummies when in my opinion they should be well past that. Most of these times in my opinion its the parents lacking and not any impairment on the part of the children.

conradmum

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

He seemed perfectly capable of blowing bubbles, of drinking from a bottle, reading a comic and other basic things. I've never heard of a disorder that prevents someone from using a knife and fork, yet doesn't hinder them in other activities. Have you?

It's not as if the dexterity required to blow bubbles using one of those little pots of bubble mixture is vastly different from utilising a fork.

Wow, he was five and already able to read a comic! All English children must be fantastically advanced in their reading skills.