Dealing with eating habbits

[Inspired by Reggio]

Wow ~ I have never 'fed' a child over 15-16 months and even than it was only because they 'arrived' to me not having learned to self feed and within a couple weeks of seeing everyone else doing it they were all over doing it themselves!

THREE and still expecting to be spoon fed food that is some learned helplessness going on there cause by that age absense of any confirmed 'special need' a child should be capable of feeding themselves with a fork, spoon and even 'buttering' things with a butter knife????

I think I would have to be IN that situation to know how I would handle it but my gut is NO I would be spoon feeding a child of that age in order to get them to eat ~ I would be placing the food in front of them, reminding them they are strong capable child so have at er and if they choose to just sit there I would assume they are not hungry ... honestly a 3 year old should have the fine motor control to pick up slippery things like mango and banana and so forth regardless.

If you think it is truly a 'lack of skill' I would be reinforcing fine motor activities at 'non meal times' to support the pincher grasp so that they can feed themselves ~ by THREE that should be everyones goal both at home and in the program and I would be discussing this with the client via a Nippising or other 'guiding resource' that indicates developmental 'red flags' for children!