My 18month grandson puts slugs, bugs, spiders etc to his mouth, any ideas on how to stop him.?

Question

Today he picked up a half dead field mouse and wanted to kiss it

For those people who think my grandson is playing unsupervised. He is in the back garden which is fully fenced, he has loads of toys and i sit at the doorstep. I feel we should stand over him whilst he is at play. We have fields behind us.

Correction, we should not stand over him whilst he is playing

Answer 1

EWW, just let him know that it is icky to eat bugs and rodents and not healthy. But also he is exploring with his taste buds and that is what they do. Just keep have to keep a good eye on him to make sure he doesn't get a hold of anything bad, but most bugs are not harm full to people.

Answer 2

i really wouldnt stress about it as long as he eats stuff other than this the rest of the time. Natural curiosty isnt it, i have a daughter the same age and her current favourites are iams cat food and gravel! not too bothered though she is the youngest of five kids and the others had similar cravings as toddlers. They have all grown into healthy kids/adults and am pleased to report that none of them still eat ladybirds, gravel or pet food, at least not in public anyway! As for people berating you for letting your grandson play without watching his every movement forget them i live in the countryside too and it is far healthier to give them space to play with minimal supervision they grow up with abit more common sense and much stronger immune system!

Answer 3

I'd personally show him what he is suppose to do with these things...for example the dead mouse...he probably wanted to kiss it to make it feel better...if that's what's done to him. But instead of allowing that, I'd show him what we are suppose to do with dead animals. Then how to clean ourselves up so no germs..etc...

As far as the insects......eww, however

If you catch him in the act, good...stop him. Explain that depending on the insect they can hurt him...(ex. if it's a certain spider...they can be deadly if they bite). Ask him if he's hungry instead (I doubt he will be most of the time.). Redirect his attention and behavior by distracting to something other than the insects...

Answer 4

I agree with you you should not have to stand over him while he plays in the garden he is at that curious age were he is exploring his surroundings the bugs will not hurt him physically eating them but he mouse concerns me id be horrified of the fles thay could harbour but at least he is not scared and all you need to do is try to distract him from the bugs and mice he finds ask him to show you what he finds then explain to him they live in the garden and don't like to be touched and its best he leaves them alone because he can hurt them and thats not nice he will get the message soon and eventually leave them be my children whent trought this and i did the same and they out grew it. good luck!!!!

Answer 5

Where the heck is this 18mth old hanging out that this happens often enough to be worried??? Just supervise the child and ensure his safety, he will get past it sooner or later. Also if this is all just going on in the back yard, be sure he has plenty of different shaped and textured toys to play with :)

Answer 6

To be honest most kids do it, I myself used to always try to eat spiders and worms and all things buggish. He will grow out of it, he's just trying new things, children at that age are learning through taste so everything goes into their mouth, try keeping some of his favourite fruit or sugar-free sweets aroun. You could also try just telling him it is dirty. It won't hurt him though, I know it may seem unpleasant but soon enough he'll move on the next stage of his development and it will be adios bugs, hello high table as climbing and stretching is next in his development satge

Answer 7

You don't leave your 18 MONTH old out in the dirt unsupervised (cuz that's what he is) and expect him not to put stuff in his mouth.

He needs to be in a clean safe environment.

Now if he was a dog that would be another story. Your actions would be perfectly fine.

Answer 8

Thats pretty normal. But an 18 month kid shoudlnt be real far from his mother (or grandmother), so you should be right there to quickly stop him if he does something like that. He'll figure out he's not supposed to do it after you correct him a number of times.

Answer 9

Say to him a a yacky you'll get sick if you eat them also you should put a little fence around your garden one that his big enough so he cant get onto the mud and if you see any bugs before him kick them away with out him noticing! Good luck!

Answer 10

Firm instructions to NOT do those things would most likely be effective. If he's 18 months old, he can now understand the difference between good behaviour and bad.