Gc lacking in life skills.

Have you seen this lack of ability at his own home? It's not beyond children to behave differently when away from unfamililiar surroundings or their parents. Can be very puzzling I can tell you!

I will give DGD a biscuit and some fruit as a snack ,or a treat after she has had her meal with us at the table and she will eat it watching TV.
But actual meals the TV goes off and we sit down. If I'm not eating at the same time I still get a coffee and sit and chat to her.With catch up on TV a programme can be resumed .
But with our own DC s they always knew when dinner was ready the TV went off and we all sat down together.If it was a favourite programme I would time it so they could still watch.
There's nothing wrong with a sausage roll wrapped up -I want one now !But our DGC literally goes into a trance watching TV and mindlessly almost misses her mouth she's so transfixed.But get her sat down and engaged and she appreciates her food,has learnt how to use cutlery and say please,thank you and can I get down grandma.All a bit old fashioned some would say.Essential I would say.Other than that I think I think we're pretty relaxed grandparents.

We never eat at the table here...…………...don`t have a table! Although when I minded my grandson as a littlie, he sat at his own little table for his dinner.

I have 10 year old GCs from two families who will only attempt to use a knife and fork when round here and pushed to do so, they seem to eat everything, including roast potatoes and chicken with their fingers!

Today my dgd made some sausage rolls which we had for tea.
Granted, it was frozen puff pastry and a packet of sausage meat. She put ketchup in with the filling and brushed the tops with egg.

When she moaned about having to put on a wash her mum told her ..... In ten years you may be heading off to uni and it's my job to make sure you can cope.

When my son was at uni he phoned asking on different ways of cooking potatoes. Turned out he'd bought a cwt bag of spuds at a farmer's market because they're cheaper by the cwt. And didn't I know that !!
He had also bought a 10 kilo bag of long grain rice.
Set up for the academic year I guess. ;)

How will they ever know if we don't teach them?

I do have a yen for a large, bad-for-me sausage roll though. As long as it's hot and from Gregg's!

I wouldn't cut it up either.

But do you cut your own food up nina

All those aghast at him not sitting at the table for lunch. We don't sit at the table for lunch in our house. We always do for breakfast and evening meal.

I would have made him sit at the table too and eaten lunch with him.

I'm shocked that anyone would post that they had given a DGC food in a napkin to eat in front of the tv.
Is this real?

I am afraid I would have made him sit at the kitchen table and cut it up himself while I sat and ate with him. Children learn by example. Even my 4 year old GD has always sat at her little table with her little chair for lunch and at teatime she sits at the big table with her parents.

It was a case of self preservation for my children as I disliked cooking then and still do.

Does he wipe his own bum?

My DiLs are delighted my sons could cook when they met them!

Please tell me he cut it up himself?

Yes mine all cooked young and before they left primary there is no way they would have starved, they could do the compulsory spag Bol, noodles and easy stuff like scrambled egg, jacket potatoes in the microwave, and a full dinner by 12 plus cakes, biscuits etc (better than me mostly) I think it’s not so much the not cooking in this situation but the not cutting up that would worry me enormously
You can’t change his parents but you can make him more useful when he comes to yours most kids like experimenting and trying out doing new things

I started teaching my own children to cook young .My daughter could make herseld scrambled eggs in the microwave when eh was 4 and by the time she started high school she could make a 3 course meal ,I started my GC young too with things in the microwave now they can make pasta and omelettes and anything thats grilled.They are 8 ,10 and 12 .Its up to the parents or whoever has most care of them to teach life skills ,although I have a friend who hates cooking and said her daughter could learn to cook once she'd left home .We are all different.I would make sure he could cut up food though at 10 ,surely if he eats in school they insist on knives and forks
?

10 yr old GS makes breakfast for himself and younger brother and makes a lovely cup of tea. He would have heated his own sausage roll or made himself a sandwich.
I agree with wildswan take him to the kitchen and show him how. Pandering to him (mum not you) is not helping.

Not so long ago I was being taken to see a boarding school and told about the kitchen they were having built so they could teach the sixth formers how to make a coffee and a simple meal! Not so sure this child is alone or that there is a lot a GP can do unless they look after him regularly.

I don't see mine so often as they don't live in the UK but when I do they seem to want to do everything themselves.
They are 5 & 2 so perhaps will become more helpless later

Oh dear I have to agree here with other posters, this was your perfect opportunity but you fell into the same trap as the one his parents have created, and done his bidding Most of mine have all cooked or found stuff for themselves if no one around to do it for them from 10/11 I would have made his sausage roll called him to the table and no kid of 10 needs his sausage roll cutting up so obviously he wasn’t hungry
When he said he couldn’t do the bin because he didn’t know where it went why didn’t you tell him where it lives and said now give it a go please
He won’t get on too well at high school at 11 if he can’t eat his food without it being cut up for him Do him a big favour and teach him next time he’s at yours

If he hasn't been brought up to look after himself you can do one of two things.

1. Keep pandering to him
2. Ask him into the kitchen to prepare his sausage roll and maybe make you one too.

You're not helping his life skills by giving him a sausage roll to eat with his hands whilst watching TV!

If you'd sat at the table and had lunch together you could have chivvied him along to cut up the sausage roll.

I have only a few house rules but grandchildren eating meals at the table is one of them!

Yes, by all means, look after the children as we all do but there comes a time when they should be taught to start looking after themselves too and to be running round after a 10 year old is not going to teach him anything other than to be waited on hand and foot. It's quite shocking really.
It does no harm at all to give children little jobs to do, starting early and let them earn their pocket money.

Mine too!

They are all different ! I've got four GC and they are all independent in most things. My 10 yr old would have heated up the sausage roll and served it to me !