I had no idea.

[kijip]

So F, who is just shy of 2, eats his sandwiches and pizza in one piece. After spending years of T pulling everything apart, I guess I just thought kids always did that. Well, no. F just picks up that sandwich and goes to town. What a freaking relief. T still only eats these things whole about half the time. Takes so much time and can result in waste.

So, do your kids eat things intact or do they dissect them before they eat? If it changed at some point, what age did it shift? I really wish T would take a page out of Fs book, you know?

[Raidra]

It's only within the last few months that I've been able to get the kids to eat sandwiches other than grilled cheese. If I wanted to make them something like a turkey and cheese sandwich, I usually just gave them a slice of each and a handful of crackers.. they never ate the bread. They'd even pull open peanut butter sandwiches and eat them open faced. Actually, now that I think about it, if I buy the 'wrong' kind of bread, they'll still pull it apart and discard the bread.

It really made it difficult to bring lunches to the playground.

They never did that with pizza, though..

ETA: Fiona still pulls everything apart. She's 2.

[maestramommy]

Dora eats her food whole, and has for forever. Arwyn takes her food apart, and eats it a piece at a time, always has. Laurel is leaning the same way, although she will eat a sandwich whole if I hold it in front of her and tell her to take a bite.

[ha98ed14]

We have a future surgeon over here! She pretty much eviscerates her food and picks out "da gween tings!" Wasteful and unhealthy!

[daisymommy]

My older two pull the crusts off, and it must be already cut in half to begin with.

[MomToOne]

I switched to roll-ups to try to avoid the problem. She likes to be able to hold it in her fist and eat it that way, although at first she would try to unroll the sandwich before eating. But now it's working out.

[Melaine]

Typically they eat things whole. But if they aren't too hungry (rare, they have a great appetite) they might start pulling things apart.

[ThreeofUs]

DS1, sensitive to many tastes, takes everything apart.

DS2, not so much.

[g-mama]

None of mine have ever pulled their food into pieces....they just bite it.

[fivi2]

Mine won't eat sandwiches, casseroles, soup, pasta with stuff in it, etc. They don't pull it apart though, they just won't touch it. So turkey, cheese, and bread on their own are acceptable, but put them together and it is chaos. They recently started accepting grilled cheese sandwiches (but not quesadillas). They are almost 5 - no end in sight.

[MMEand1]

My DS will eat everything whole, but my DD takes EVERYTHING apart! She will be 6 soon, so I'm not sure if/when she will outgrow it!