Self Feeding - Olathe,KS

gerber makes a really good spoon and fork set that has big rubberized handles for easier grip and the fork has rounded tines that also helpkeep the food on the fork and they are small enough that when held by the child they just stick out of the hand so it is more like using hands than other childrens fork sets. get one of these they have them at walmart and have him hold it while you stab a piece of food then show him how to bring it to his mouth. after a bit he will see that the food stays on the fork and gets to his mouth. children have a hard time sometimes because the silverware is too big and the food slips off. i found this set of fork and spoon to help alot with my son who is now 3 and he still uses them with eggs and things of that nature that tend to fall off forks. my email is ____@____.com let me know if this helps you at all and good luck hun it takes time to show them what it is and how to use it. if he uses it twice in a feeding praise him because its progress. good luck

Try giving him a spork. Something that is small and has a fork/spoon combination. At that age my daughter had a lot of trouble with large silverware. You might even look at one of those forks that has a bent handle which helps keep the food level. Cora was able to handle a fork first. Spoons were a problem since she kept dumping the food down the front of her shirts. Kids have tendency to flip the spoon upside down when they put it in thier mouths.

As for the mess, well I just let her experiment no matter how messy things got. I did refuse to alow any food throwing, but honest mistakes were simply ignored. My husband was better about letting her feed herself. All I could see was the giant mess I was going to have to clean up, the clothes I was going to have to treat for stains, and the highchair that needed to be hosed down. My husband kept pointing out I had to let her learn no matter how messy she got.

My sister-in-law would strip her kids down to thier diapers at home, remove the highchair cushion, and put a plastic sheet on the floor of the dinning room while they were eating. It made cleaning up easier.

Bon Appetite!

Have you triied to hold the spoon and him hold it while doing the airplane sound and show him how to put it in his mouth just right?Thats what me and my daughter used to do.Then I would ask her if she can do it and get all excited about it so she felt really proud.I also let her know that it made me unhappy when she played with her food.I don't know if this will help but good luck:)