After a session of feeding himself some chocolate oatsAs part of his route to Independence, I am suppose to let Tobey feed himself and explore food at his own pace. I am suppose to lay a huge mat under his high chair during meal times and just let him go crazy. Wanna squash some peas? Sure. Wanna massage the mash potatoes? Of course you can my dear. Wanna pour water into the porridge that mommy has been making for the last hour? Why not, go ahead.
The mother (and Chinese) in me shy away from that idea as I know that if I let him take control of his spoon, only 25% of the food will actually be eaten. But "I want my child to be well nourished" and not share the other 75% with the floor, his high chair, his hair, my hair, his face and our clothes.
Dilemma
So the compromise is that I make sure I let him have several messy meal times a week. Mostly for breakfast as he has oats for breakfast. If the consistency is right, the chances of it dropping off his spoon on the way to his mouth is less. I once gave him steamed carrot sticks, fish fingers and a cup of water. He stirred carrot and fish fingers together in his cup of water then scooped that murky water into his bowl of fish fingers. You get the picture. Another time, I gave him a bowl of rice crispies. He fed himself, his soft toys, fed me and crushed the rest between his fingers, his toes and embedded them into the carpet. Thank God for vacuum cleaners.I dunno whether he learned anything or not.
But all is worth it simply because he had a fantabulous time every single time and sure felt super proud of himself and his achievements.
2 comments:
Although messy, as you said, it must be fantabulous. Btw, his reactions are cute and funny. Seems like a lot of fun.
@Siew: He's quite a handful Siew. I hope my back don't break from cleaning before he's done with this exploration phase ;P
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