Let the children learn to eat by themselves!

Photography | Li Jianhua Bao Xiao: "I don't want to eat by myself, I want my grandmother to feed me! Mom: You are three years old. How can you let your grandmother feed you? " Grandma: "It doesn't matter! I feed it faster, and it's more troublesome to eat everywhere! 」

Are you familiar with this conversation? Do you have a "small treasure" at home? In years of experience in providing children-related services, I found that many children were not good at using spoons when they were three years old. After in-depth analysis, I found several things in common:

? 1. Parents are afraid that their children will eat everywhere by themselves, and it will be very troublesome to clean up. What such parents often say is: "Feeding is faster, saves time and effort, and is hygienic. 2. Children have to watch TV to eat quietly, but when watching TV, children can't concentrate, which leads to a long meal time. Parents often feed them directly because they can't wait. Parents often worry about their children's diet. Children don't even eat what their parents feed them, let alone do it themselves. At this time, if parents get angry and affect the dining atmosphere, the original happy dining time will become hell time in their eyes!

Finally, spoons are often only used as "tableware", which leads to insufficient opportunities for practice. From the milestone of children learning to use spoons, 1.5 to 2 years old can try to eat in a way similar to that of adults grasping spoons, and around 2.5 years old can eat well by themselves. At this time, if there is a child over two years old at home, are you still feeding him? If the answer is "yes", let them try to support themselves!

General situation of age development 1 year-1 year and a half? The food that adults scoop up with a spoon can be grasped with their fists (five fingers hold the handle of the spoon tightly) and sent to their mouths. 1 half -2 years old? I have tried to grasp the spoon with three fingers (thumb, forefinger and middle finger) and I can scoop food from the bowl by myself. At the age of 2 -2 and a half, the skill of using spoons is gradually mature, and it can be kept clean when eating non-liquid food. 3 -4 years old can drink soup with a spoon without spilling it. ? Conditions for using spoons

1. Upper limb stability: When using the spoon, keep the stability of the shoulder joint and upper arm, and provide a stable foundation for the movements of the forearm and wrist. On weekdays, more activities or games that need upper limb support, such as pushing heavy objects, crawling and lying down, can strengthen the strength of shoulder joints and upper arm muscles. In addition, stacking building blocks is also a good training method! ? 2. The grasping ability of three fingers (thumb, forefinger and middle finger) usually encourages children to grasp long objects with three fingers, such as building blocks and stick-inserting games. In addition, the power of three-finger grip is also very important. For example, when parents hand something to their children, they can grab it on purpose, or they can insert a stick into a place (as shown in figure 1, inserted into clay) and let the children pull it out with three fingers. ? 3. Using several games can improve the flexibility of wrists and fingers: (1) Coin toss: Parents can put the piggy bank at different angles, so that children need to adjust their wrists to toss coins. (2) Beading: Parents hold beads at different angles, let children hold the thread, adjust the wrist position, and thread the thread into the hole of the bead. (3) Assemble the building blocks: put the convex surface of the building blocks at different angles, and let the children adjust the wrist position for assembly. 4. Hand-eye coordination. Games such as beading, board piercing, shape matching boxes, building blocks, stacking building blocks or throwing objects into bottles can all be used to promote hand-eye coordination. Tips for using spoons 1. The first principle: "Less coercion, more encouragement. After all, eating is a happy thing. While cultivating them to move forward independently, we should also care about the children's great changes (such as why mom doesn't feed me! ), so be sure to take your time and give more positive feedback. 2. For children who just learn to use spoons (1- 1.5 years old), parents can practice with their children's hands several times to let them experience the correct sense of movement. Parents are advised to take it 2-3 times at the beginning and let their children try 1 time. Once the child succeeds in his own operation, he must give double positive feedback. 3. If the child can't successfully pick up the food from the bowl, parents can pick up the food by hand in order to avoid the child from being too frustrated, but the subsequent actions of taking the spoon and sending it to the mouth still need the child to complete it himself. 4. Make more use of games to let children practice using spoons. After all, letting children eat well has caused many parents a headache. At this time, if you let them use a spoon with half-baked skills, it will inevitably backfire. As shown in Figure 2, it was the eve of Lantern Festival, and we played a game of cooking jiaozi for frogs with children. ? 5. Be absolutely patient and don't give up because children eat too slowly and eat everywhere. Parents are advised to spare more time to accompany their children for dinner and follow-up cleaning during this period. 6. Don't eat with TV or 3C products while eating, but concentrate on eating while eating! If you want to know more or gain more knowledge about parenting, please join the fan page of occupational therapist Chen Yinan.

? "This article is the author's view on cooperative innovation, not his position."