How to hold a spoon correctly: etiquette rules, tips on how to use cutlery

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Why do many mothers try to teach their child to eat with a spoon from a very young age? It is much more convenient to feed the child yourself. The kitchen will remain clean, no need to waste energy on cleaning. And the child will eat food quickly and without any hassle. Maybe you should not start so early to teach the child to eat on their own? What's the point?

Child Development

In fact, the sooner the better. Because the most common teaspoon or tablespoon is an excellent tool for the development of a child. It's all about fine motor skills and its effect on the child's brain. Manipulation with a spoon contributes to the development of the child's thinking and speech, and also strengthens the baby's hand.

So, mastering the cutlery contributes to the overall development. Just imagine how many brain operations a child needs to carry out in order to correctly take a spoon, grab food with it and, correctly tilting the instrument of action, get it right into their mouths, while not dropping the food. This is indeed a very difficult task forbaby. The kid is learning to coordinate his movements, and here he will need the help of adults.

Favorable age to get acquainted with a spoon

We have already found out that the simplest manipulations with a spoon have a beneficial effect on the development of a child. Now let's decide when and how to teach a child to hold a spoon correctly and whether it is necessary for it to be "correct" from the very beginning.

To make the whole learning process as easy as possible, it is important to get into the "window" of his interests. That is, when he will be open for training, when he becomes really interested in it.

Most often this "window" opens in the region of 1.2 years - 1.4 years. During this period, the baby may begin to snatch the spoon from your hands and try to manipulate it on his own. If this happens, then it's time to teach the child to eat with a spoon. Otherwise, the baby will quickly cool off for this lesson, and it will become much more difficult to teach him to eat himself.

Good period

The period from one to two years is the most optimal when you need to show your child how to properly hold a spoon and fork. It is necessary to teach the child to use cutlery for its intended purpose. Learn how to eat porridge correctly, how to prick pieces of vegetables and meat on a fork. Learn how to properly hold a spoon when eating soup. It is important during this period to show the baby how to use the cup, and to abandon baby bottles and drinkers altogether.

In the second year of life, a child with great pleasure tries something new and strives to learn how to do everything on his own. itthe period should not be missed and should be used to the maximum in order to teach the child how to hold a spoon correctly. How to drink from a cup. How to use wipes How to wash your hands before and after eating.

Can you teach all this in three years?

You can, of course, learn to use cutlery after three. But, as Masaru Ibuka said: "After three it's too late." Not literally, of course. It would even be more accurate to say: "After three it's already difficult."

After three years, it will really be much more difficult to teach a child all this. Because the baby will not understand such drastic changes. They fed him with a spoon for three whole years, and then they took it and decided to accustom him to independence. Why should it? The baby will most likely not like this, and the learning process will be much harder.

Save your nerves and the nerves of your baby, start teaching him all this sooner.

Child holding spoon wrong

At the beginning of his "canteen independence" the baby holds the spoon and fork differently than the parents do. How to learn how to hold a spoon correctly? First you need to figure out how it is "right" and how "wrong".

From one to two years of age, the correct grip of a spoon is to grip it with a fist. But the child must hold it by the middle part of the handle and clasp it with four fingers from above and one, thumb, from below. Such capture will be considered valid for up to two years.

When the grip is wrongspoons, the child simply will not be able to put food in his mouth. In this case, he sucks her, as it were. Try teaching your child how to use a small coffee spoon to eat properly by showing them how to hold a coffee spoon properly. Gradually offer the baby a larger spoon and, in case of an incorrect grip, correct the baby's handle again.

Rules for accustoming to independent use of cutlery

The most important rule: teach your child to eat solid food from a spoon first (porridge, vegetables, meat) and only then teach food like soup, okroshka.

The baby will not be able to immediately learn to hold liquid food in a spoon without spilling it on the way to the mouth.

A child can try to eat solid food by himself as early as a year old, and by the age of one and a half, he will masterfully cope with this matter. But it is worth accustoming to independent consumption of soup only after 1.5 years.

So, remember. Independent use of cutlery begins with the use of solid dishes.

Role Model Rule

Every child loves to copy their parents. Therefore, during lunch, try to take the baby with you and plant it so that each member of the family can see it. The child will consider your manipulations with a spoon, fork, mug, and sooner or later he will want to repeat it all. All you need is to seize the moment and take the initiative of the baby.

Also, a joint meal will be useful so that the child quickly learns to repeat your movements that you dowith a spoon in hand.

At first, the child will not be able to repeat this movement correctly, but will only try. In order to teach a child to make the path with a spoon correctly, you need to use the "hand in hand" method. That is, you take the baby's hand in your hand and make the desired pattern with a spoon. You need to hold the baby's hand carefully and affectionately, but persistently.

Repeat this exercise about five times at each meal and the result will not be long in coming.

Complication of tasks

Assignments for preparing for independent use of cutlery need to be complicated. But you need to do this gradually, slowly:

At first, the child learns to do only the most basic thing himself - to eat food from a spoon and take it out of his mouth. All this is done using the hand-in-hand method. Where, at the end of the manipulation, the adult removes his hand and lets the baby finish the work they started (eat food). With all this, it is important to constantly praise the baby, encouraging him that he will succeed and is already doing well

Then the adult needs to gradually remove their hand. This is done somewhere in the middle of the path of the spoon to the baby's mouth. That is, the parent sets the direction for the spoon, the child picks it up and does half the work on his own

Then you need to give the baby more opportunities for independence. We help the child use the same method to grab food with a spoon, and the rest of the procedure for bringing food to the mouth is done by the child himself

The next step is the most key one in learning to use it yourselfspoon. The child himself must grab the food from the plate, bring it to his mouth and eat it. But we are still there and always ready to help and help the baby, lightly holding his hand with our hand

Table etiquette

After you teach your baby how to properly use cutlery and eat on their own, you can begin to teach him the rules of table etiquette.

We need to explain to him what cannot be done and what can:

• You can't slurp at the table.
• After finishing the meal, you need to put the spoon and fork on the plate.
• You can't play, clown around, make faces at the table.
• You can't talk while there is food in your mouth.
• You can not reach for bread across the table, you need to ask the one who is closer to him to serve it.
• After any meal you should say "thank you" to the hostess.

Try to learn the rules with common children's sayings:

• When I eat, I am deaf and dumb.
• When I eat, I don't listen to anyone, etc.

About five years old, you can begin to teach your child to use a knife. This rule is optional. But a child who knows how to use appliances like an adult is a delight in public.

It will be nice for both the baby and parents.