Can an 11 month old learn a lesson?

I'm not sure if I have ridiculous expectations here. Overall, my baby is very good, not *terribly* curious or rambunctious, and I rarely have had to say "NO!" to him to get him to stop doing something. (Oh, I know... just wait. )

However, I'm trying to teach him his first lesson and I don't know if I'm being stupid, or if it will work. I've watched Dr. Phil and he always says that children need to be able to predict, "with 100% accuracy", the consequences of their actions. So here's what the deal is with Josiah:

When he's in his high chair, he's actually pretty neat. He's never thrown food or made a huge mess. But he will take a piece of banana, or a "handful" of something he happens to be eating, he'll reach his hand straight out, and drop it on the floor. At first when he started I thought it was cute and funny. Now, he looks at me to see if I'm going to react, then drops it.

Now when he moves his arm over the edge of his highchair tray, I look at him sternly and say "NO!". I do'nt want to make a big production, but want to acknowledge and tell him no. Half the time he brings the food to his mouth and eats it. The other 50% he drops the food. He doesn't laugh and giggle, but he does look at me.

I immediately pull the tray off his highchair and take the rest of the food away. I tell him, not really expecting him to understand yet, "you dropped the food on the floor, we take it away." Something like that.


So my question is, do you think my 11 month old gets it? Or maybe he'll soon start getting it if I consistently respond that way? Or is this something a child can't comprehend until they're, say, 2 years old and I'm being stupid?

TIA for reading my LONG post and responding!

[Brooke]

I think he can kind of get it - they pick up on NO or taking a toy away pretty quickly. But I'm not sure taking the food away is a good punishment if you know he's still hungry.

[olcott]

Trey does the exact same thing..last night we had pizza and he grabbed a piece, held his arm straight out over the edge, looked at Robb and waited for him to react, and dropped it....

I've found that if I don't react to him, he'll do it once, and then stop..but the more I tell him no, the more he does it

[harmonielyn]

Originally Posted by olcott

I've found that if I don't react to him, he'll do it once, and then stop..but the more I tell him no, the more he does it

Thats what I was thinking. He wants a reaction even if it is 'NO'. I wouldnt take away his food, I would stop reacting to see how that works.

I should have added that he only does it toward the end of the meal, and if I DO have concerns that he is still hungry, I take away whatever it is he dropped, then give him something else. If he eats a bite or two of that, then drops it, I take it away too.

I think sometimes he is dropping it to tell me he doesn't want it any more. So I give him something else. Until he's refused a few things, then I assume he's not hungry any more.

[sheila]

During that phase, we had some success with teaching Maggie a/the sign for "all done" I don't know if its an official sign, but we had her rub/smack her hands together (like she was brushing crumbs away) and say "all done." She was interested enough in doing it, and we always made a big deal about her doing it that it usually helped with the flings. (at least for a few months)

[spryte332]

At 11 months I'd say he's definitely old enough to understand a simple lesson like that. However, I wonder he's the one trying to teach you his code here - kind of like "mom I can't talk yet or manuever this tray, so I'm showing you I'm all done and ready to go". Might not be the way you prefer LOL! I've found in the past 2 yrs that it's just as much Logan teaching me as I am him in cases like this!

Kimi

[Melissa]

Katie does the SAME thing, and I'm pretty sure she's just playing when she does it because we have a game with her sippy cup that is along those lines. Everytime she does it I say, "NO, you don't throw food on the floor." Sometimes I won't let her get her hand into throwing position, which she hates. I haven't taken her food away due to that, yet.

Sheila, I love that idea! We'll start working on that right away!!

[stass]

I think Dr. Phil might be right he can predict that his actions will get all your attention. Especially when you say he watches your reaction.