Sorry for another food-related post, but how old was your child when you started to teach them how to use utensils to eat? How long before they could manage it without, say, flinging most of it on the ceiling? Any tips?
I just started helping DS eat with a spoon (heavily assisted) and he thinks it is the most awesome thing ever, but I see many messes in our future!
Re: Eating with utensils
I started giving DD utensils about 2 months ago. At first if it was something that needed a spoon I'd help her. Now she has the hang of it and still spills stuff on her, but I'll usually take her shirt off to eat (since she won't keep a bib on). With the fork I'll pierce the food and she will sometimes pick it off the fork or pick the fork up and eat off it. She just recently has tried to pierce the food herself, but still needs a bit of help. I'll sometimes use a spoon for regular foods to get her used to the action of eating off of a utensil.
FWIW, she never flung food. Just try it and if he isn't ready, try again in a few weeks.
if it makes you feel better, DD did the yogurt w/ hands thing for awhile too (evne though she COULD do it w/ a spoon - it was just more efficient for her to do it w/ her fingers). She'll now use a spoon for foods like that w/o being asked.
Ok good! She will eat things with spoons at first, and then switch to her fingers towards the middle/end. She does it with cereal and ice cream too! Oy.