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Old 03-27-2010, 02:34 PM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 23 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
50,052 posts, read 63,405,659 times
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Another thread made me think of this. In the Jaime Oliver series about making more healthful school lunches, most of the grade school kids only ate with spoons or their fingers. He found this pretty appalling.
I started my toddlers using a fork instead of their fingers, but I really don't remember how old they were when they started cutting their own food..maybe 6 or 7 or so?
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Old 03-27-2010, 03:41 PM
 
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I found it so weird when I saw that! Seriously, six year olds not knowing how to use a fork??? My kids started with forks when they learned to eat table foods that were not cut into teeny tiny pieces (so by a year and a half or two at the latest!), and learned how to use butter knives around age four. My six year old can now use a steak knife to cut meat, and my nine year old has been doing so for a few years now.
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Old 03-27-2010, 03:59 PM
 
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Mine started using a fork when she stopped pounding the spoon on her tray. The knife came at about 4.
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Old 03-27-2010, 04:14 PM
 
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My daughter not only used a fork, but was eating with chopsticks at age 5. Kids are amazing.
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Old 03-27-2010, 04:19 PM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 23 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
50,052 posts, read 63,405,659 times
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That's all very encouraging. I thought maybe I was just out of it.
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Old 03-27-2010, 04:36 PM
 
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Both of my kids were using forks by the age of 2; knives at the age of 5.
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Old 03-27-2010, 07:07 PM
 
Location: Revere, MA
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Yeah, that was pretty shocking. My daughter is 5, and she uses both. My son is almost two, and does pretty well with the fork. Funny, she also taught herself to use chopsticks too! She uses them better than me, lol. I mean, that's a pretty sad situation, those kids at the school. Even if the school was not teaching them, where the hell are the parents? I didn't catch the whole show.
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Old 03-28-2010, 01:45 PM
 
Location: Aurora, Colorado
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I'm so glad someone started a post about that show. I love it and thought of my own situation with my kids and using utensils.

My kids started out with a spoon very early and progressed to a fork at about 1 1/2. My 7 year old still has a hard time with a knife...she saws at stuff until it finally "gives up."

But I think it was amazing to watch that show and see that our country has moved on to finger food and stuff you can eat with your hands. I cook at home a lot and make healthy meals (and admittedly do cut up pieces of meat into smaller pieces) but even I have to admit that we don't often use knives. I do cut a lot of stuff with my fork but we don't do a lot of food that requires a knife.

Anyway...after watching that show, I am going to make an effort to work with my 7 year old on her knife skills. She has been using a fork forever so that's not an issue, but perhaps I'll start having her use a knife to cut things up instead of making things bite-sized.
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Old 03-28-2010, 01:47 PM
 
Location: Aurora, Colorado
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Quote:
Originally Posted by felicitev21 View Post
Even if the school was not teaching them, where the hell are the parents? I didn't catch the whole show.
I think the point of the show was to let the viewers see how we Americans are moving towards food that can be eaten without any utensils. If those kids' diets were supposed to be an example...hamburgers, pizza, chicken nuggets, french fries, etc...are all consumed with the need for utensils. None of those kids were eating anything like salad, soup, rice, pasta, or cuts of meat that required anything other than their hands.
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Old 03-28-2010, 01:50 PM
 
Location: Aurora, Colorado
2,212 posts, read 5,138,545 times
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Just to satisfy my curiosity...

For those of us with kids in school (and who pack their lunch), does the lunch you pack for your kids require you to put a spoon/knife/fork inside?

I was just thinking of my kid's lunch and there is a mini-bagel sandwich, juice box, crackers/chips and sliced apples/oranges/berries. I put in a napkin but never a utensil. I was just curious.
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