Children who cannot feed themselves

Rainbo

Quite frankly it's the parents who don't pay any attention to their kids that worry me more. The child you saw was spending time with a parent and was being fed when hungry. You won't see him in a boardroom in 20 years time being fed by his mother so don't stress about how a child eats.

Penny-Pincher!!

I think children's manners in the UK are appalling, but then looking at most of their parents, it's hardly surprising! The adults I think are worse....eating with their mouth open....slopping noises from their mouth......food running down their face....its disgusting! My main bug bear is when people finish their meal, they never put their cutlery together on the plate to signal they have finished IYKWIM.....I always thought this was basic etiquette.

I read somewhere a few weeks ago that 70% of children aged 16 and under didn't know how to use their knife and fork properly. I personally think it's because as a nation we have become lazier and the foods that are given are more hand held food.

My DD is nearly 16 and sometimes I still nag her about cutting her meat into smaller pieces (especially steak) and chewing properly, but this is more for her digestive system and appreciating the quality of food that she is eating and not just gobbling it up.

OP-If you would have been looking at my child for lengthy amounts of time to notice that he was of sound mind, could blow bubbles, could drink from a cup, speak properly, wore a uniform, made out that I was not "common" and everything else you noted in your posts...I would of called the Police!

PP
xx

liney

Having lived in the UK for two years, and only witnessing this for the first time now, surely this indicates how uncommon it was?

FBaby

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

OP-If you would have been looking at my child for lengthy amounts of time to notice that he was of sound mind, could blow bubbles, could drink from a cup, speak properly, wore a uniform, made out that I was not "common" and everything else you noted in your posts...I would of called the Police!

xx

Isn't staring at strangers bad manner too?

What is not right is the idea you have of Great Britain, but then stereotypes are quite funny. I'm from France originally, and my idea of England were gentlemen, wearing their black suits, hat and black umbrella, walking the street in London and doing anything to come and help a young lady in need of help! I also thought that everything stopped at 4pm so that the tea set could come out and everyone could have its nice cup of tea and scones. Ha ha my shock when i arrived in St Pancreas and had to battle the crowd with my huge suitcase down the stairs and not a black suit to pay me any attention, and I arrived in Burton on Trent and I got my first cup of tea in a dirty mug and no smell of hot scones, just that lovely marmite factory scent!

No offence to England, I love the country, have been here for 13 years and have no intention to go home. Saying that, the stereotypes about the French, they are a laugh too!

No, it is not usual for a 5 year old to be fed, but there are hundreds of reasons why this might have occured. How do you know that this child hasn't been in a serious car crash days earlier, is in so much shock he is on a hunger strike and his doctors have said that he needs to be fed anything whatever the mean or he will have to be admitted to hospital. Ok, a bit drastic, but all is possible.

Any other stereotypes you are curious about?

tiamai_d

We all need to go over to Poland and learn how to parent.

Actually, where did you go PBS? It's been ages since I've read your words of wisdom.

nikkiuk

My son is 8 and suffers from Developmental coordination disorder (DCD). He is perfectly normal in every way and is actually above average intelligence! However he does have dificulties in is using a knife and fork! His specific issues mean that his brain finds it difficult to allow his body to complete 2 different functions with his left and right sides, so keeping his fork still whilst making cutting movements with his knife is near on impossible. His brain naturally wants his body to do the same with his left hand as it does with his right hand, this makes for some lengthy and very messy mealtimes.
Is that a specific enough disorder for you?

You know there are probably children in Poland with coordination disorders too.......I'm sure they don't just affect the Uk population!

balletshoes

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

I was in the UK for a couple of days for a business trip.

So, I was in a shopping centre, when I decided to buy something to eat from the "food court". After having selected a meal, I sat down - and what do I see? I see someone actually feeding a child of 5-6 years old. The child was having the food not only cut for him, but also given to him - he appeared to be completely incapable of feeding himself. To make matters worse, he was also eating with his mouth OPEN.

Now, before anyone suggests that there was something wrong with the child - he was perfectly capable of drinking some awful sugar-laden drink from the bottle without spilling any.

My question is this - is this normal for British children? In Poland, you would never see a 5 year old being fed by his parents in such a way!

no, its not normal in the UK for a child this age to not be feeding themselves. Don't get me started on pandering of this fashion - I could rant for Scotland, especially on what I saw when I lived abroad!

ETA - BPS from reading the rest of the posts in this thread, you don't know how old the child was, he could have been as young as 3 in a school uniform.

balletshoes

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

There's something that I wanted to ask - are there really healthy children over the age of 3 using pushchairs in the UK? I saw this for myself, but - is it common?

BPS - believe me when I say that there are healthy children all over Europe who still use puschairs over the age of 3.

PolishBigSpender

balletshoes wrote: »

BPS - believe me when I say that there are healthy children all over Europe who still use puschairs over the age of 3.

I wonder why?

It's not common here at all, and it's unheard of in Ukraine/Russia.

Perhaps something to do with wealth? Richer countries do tend to be far more protective towards their children. How many people on here would let their 7 year old walk to school alone, yet it's normal in Poland.

balletshoes

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

I wonder why?

It's not common here at all, and it's unheard of in Ukraine/Russia.

Perhaps something to do with wealth? Richer countries do tend to be far more protective towards their children. How many people on here would let their 7 year old walk to school alone, yet it's normal in Poland.

I walked/biked to school without a parent/responsible adult from the age of 5. At my daughters school they are not allowed to arrive at, or depart from, the school gates without a parent or responsible adult until they are in year 4 (so 8 years old).