MamaGrizzly

My daughter is at a very exciting age at 14 months where she has learned how to throw.  It’s a great milestone developmentally as it actually takes fine motor skills to open the fingers and actually let go of an object.  Hand-eye coordination is also actually required to throw and object.  In addition, the child learns all about gravity because they observe that what goes up, must come down.

So, we’re at that stage developmentally with my daughter and we highly encourage it.  It’s incredibly important for her development.  Of course, WITH that ability  to throw comes the desire to throw EVERYTHING - including the food on her tray.  I think that it’s critical for parents to understand exactly what is going on developmentally for children so they know how to deal with not only the good things that they do, but also the “fun” things they do.  I also know that at 14 months, my daughter isn’t capable of understanding “NOT” logic.  So, if I say to her “Do not throw your food” all she hears is “throw food” - which is exactly what I don’t want and can explain why the situation could be extremely exacerbating for many parents.  When my son was at this stage, I read a great article that suggested that when your child starts throwing food, you say, “Food is for eating!  Balls are for throwing!”  That way the child knows that it’s not right to throw food.  I give her one or two warnings and if she doesn’t stop throwing her food, then I take her tray off and feed her.  She absolutely hates being fed - she wants to feed herself which is another fabulous developmental milestone.  Allowing babies to feed themselves as soon as possible helps them with hand eye coordination, colors, textures, smells, etc.  I’ve let both of my children start feeding themselves just as soon as possible and I now have 2 kids that are great eaters that feed themselves - well, one child is a little messier than the other but you understand what I’m saying! 

And for those people that don’t think children are intelligent, my daughter (at 14 months) has already learned that her diapers are thrown into the trash can.  As a matter of fact, I can give her anything and tell her to “Throw it in the trash” and she marches to the trash can, puts the object in it and then we all clap hands…. it’s really quite sweet. 

I guess my point is that it is incredibly important to understand developmentally where your child is and exactly what they are capable of.  It’s really helped me as a parent to understand these milestones because it has taken out a lot of frustration.  For example, would you get mad at your 5 month old because they pick up everything and place it in their mouth?  Of course not!  It’s developmental - we KNOW that that is what babies do to experience their world.  Now, if my 4 year old was doing that, I would have them at the doctors to be evaluated because developmentally, that’s not normal.  I’ll be back in a week with some great book recommendations for understanding different developmental milestones.