I think people tend to assume they and their kids are normal, whatever normal is. Therefore if your kid learns to sit at say 3 months, you think 3 months is normal for sitting. If your kid learns to swim at 4, then you assume kids generally learn around 4 and may be surprised if you happen upon a 10 year old in armbands. Eating habits are intriguing me. My kids all started feeding themselves their own evening meal before 10 months (pictured left is Anna at 8 months). Ok, it wasn't (as you can see) a pretty sight, but they were never going to get the hand-eye coordination right if they didn't practise. They didn't need any help after that (except with the cleaning up). They also tended to be out of the highchair and into a booster seat between 18 and 22 months. I figured that was normal. The last twice Thomas and I have been in Ikea canteen, I have noticed not one but at least half a dozen 4 year olds sitting comically wedged into a highchair, their feet trailing on the ground, looking pristine while being spoonfed by one or even both their parents. Does Ikea simply attract all the OCD weirdos in Glasgow simultaneously or is it quite normal to spoonfeed a 4 year old in a highchair?
3 comments:
I've had the same thoughts. Also when I see a 5 year old sit in a stroller - don't they have legs?
How will they ever learn, if they're not allowed to try?
Good grief. How do they manage when they go to school? Or are these Ikea kids in fact just eighteen-month-old victims of the childhood obesity we hear so much about?
Half of them are crayoning drawings as a distraction from eating so I'd definitely bet on them being over 18 months ;-)
I never understood that technique some parents use of trying to distract the kid while spooning in food so they don't actually notice they are being fed, it's so bloody bizarre.
Ask any of my kids my rules and they'll all chorus together that rule number one is 'No toys (and nowadays no texting!) at the table!'
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