Children forgetting how to use knife and fork

[Deleted User]

Pollycat said:

The correct way to brandish cutlery is to hold your knife with the index finger along the top of the handle. And forks should be held with the tines pointing downwards

New research shows 40 per cent of Brits don’t know right way to hold cutlery.

If 40% can't do it properly, how can we expect them to teach their kids the right way?

I'm a leftie so I hold my knife in my left hand and the fork in the right...tines downwards of course.  I'm not a total savage.

Pollycat

Aranyani said:

My mum still tells me off for holding my knife and fork like a pen.  I tell her if my way gets the food from the plate to my mouth successfully then it is just as correct as any other way. 

My Mum holds her knife like a pen too so heaven knows how I learned to use my knife the (alleged) proper way...

Aranyani

Pollycat said:

Aranyani said:

My mum still tells me off for holding my knife and fork like a pen.  I tell her if my way gets the food from the plate to my mouth successfully then it is just as correct as any other way. 

My Mum holds her knife like a pen too so heaven knows how I learned to use my knife the (alleged) proper way...

Its just more comfortable and efficient! 

Pollycat

Aranyani said:

Its just more comfortable and efficient! 

Not if you've been using the 'correct' way for over 60 years.

KxMx

I'm a heathen then as (right handed) I use my fork in my right hand. 

To me it makes perfect sense, it's the implement I use most and use to get the food to my mouth, so it should be in my favoured hand. Same as if using just a spoon it goes in right hand.

To me it's weird if people use a knife in right hand and spoon alone in right hand... Logic follows the fork should match spoon! 

MovingForwards

I hold my knife and fork in the 'wrong' hands, it always felt alien to me when my mom was doing it the other way round to teach me. She saw that I was holding them in the correct position, just the opposite hands. 

unforeseen

KxMx said:

I'm a heathen then as (right handed) I use my fork in my right hand. 

To me it makes perfect sense, it's the implement I use most and use to get the food to my mouth, so it should be in my favoured hand. Same as if using just a spoon it goes in right hand.

To me it's weird if people use a knife in right hand and spoon alone in right hand... Logic follows the fork should match spoon! 

How do you manage when holding a dessert fork and spoon? 

yellowbear

I'm a leftie too, but hold my fork in my left hand and knife in my right. Spoons are held in my left hand too.

KxMx

unforeseen said:

KxMx said:

I'm a heathen then as (right handed) I use my fork in my right hand. 

To me it makes perfect sense, it's the implement I use most and use to get the food to my mouth, so it should be in my favoured hand. Same as if using just a spoon it goes in right hand.

To me it's weird if people use a knife in right hand and spoon alone in right hand... Logic follows the fork should match spoon! 

How do you manage when holding a dessert fork and spoon? 

Not really a situation I need but I suppose I woukd use them one at a time in my right hand.

Or fork in right and spoon in left if needed to act as knife, then either in right to eat with (depending on the consistency of dessert). 

Ibizafan

My father was very hot on table manners, and I can always remember him saying to one of my brothers “hold your spoon like a spoon, and not like a shovel”. Interestingly, in latter years, my parents have changed to holding their knives like pens, although I have never commented on this, even jokingly!