Yeah, kids these days are too stupid to know how to shovel mashed potatoes onto a fork. Probably your typical spoiled brat who would literally starve to death if dad didn’t force feed her. I bet eating McDonald’s 3 meals a day for 16 years has really warped her brain.
Kids and their iPhones, AMIRIGHT!?!?
And then came home to ridicule the child on the internet.
Yeah the kid was probably just eating Gangnam Style.
Quoted for truth.
You’re right. Now that he’s gone public with the story, the life of “unidentified teenage girl” will never be the same. Have we no decency, at long last?
Oh, the irony.
From the bodybuilder in the wheelchair who drives a sports car and posts about how people make assumptions and judge others without understanding their disability.
My point is that there are occasions where a disability is not readily apparent or fully understood and I would expect a nurse to be one of the first to recognize this rather than just assume they were a spoiled brat.
I haven’t either. What I have seen plenty of over the years is kids who magically lose their abilities to do simple tasks when those tasks aren’t to their liking. It’s like a social form of passive resistance–they’re not putting up a fuss about doing something, they just can’t do it. Have you honestly never had a kid ask you to tie their shoes for them, and when you say “No, I know you can do it for yourself” they suddenly can’t do it? And make a big production out of trying and making a hash out of it trying to get you to do it for them? Or seen one develop butterfingers when you make them pick up their room when they want to be outside playing? Never had one magically lose their ability to use utensils or chew with their mouth closed or whatever when you feed them something they don’t want to eat for whatever reason? Really?
Most kids grow out of that sort of thing, but a fair number of them don’t and become the sort of adults who will do the shittiest, most half-assed job possible on things they don’t want to do in hopes that people will stop making them do those things. Or who will, when they don’t get their way about something, make things as huge a pain in the ass as possible as punishment.
IME, those folks are far, far thicker on the ground than folks with legitimate neurological impairments that affect utensil use but not phone use. When you pair that with the kid grumping about wanting to be with her friends…I think brat punishing Dad by making this dinner out a huge steaming pain in his ass is a more likely explanation than poor pitiful disabled child.
I think this, after reading all the responses, is the most probable explanation.
Seems more probable than a subtle form of neurological impairment, certainly.
But irrelevant to this story.
If I saw someone with that extreme dysfunction as described by the OP, my reaction would be ‘poor kid, I wonder what’s wrong’, not ‘what a spoiled brat who passive agressively won’t normally eat mashed potatoes.’
If I saw a kid who demonstrated the skills, dexterity and muscle control to scoop food and didn’t I would wonder what was going on.
I’m more thrown by 13 Coins be labeled even a “fairly upscale restaurant.”
It’s old school dining which I like, but I’d never consider it even faily upscale… I’ve been there and street walkers and pimps at the next both down.
well it was voted top 5 best late night restaurant in the nation by the the food network. Where else are they going to go at night? Hookers gotta eat too.
IANA expert in child development, but could she possibly have never learned to use utensils? Her odd grip and exclusive use of stabbing motions reminds me of a toddler just starting out. If her parents or caretakers never compelled her to practice using utensils, I would expect that she would be limited to firm grip stabbing. If this is the case, I would classify it as “early childhood neglect” rather than “spoiled.” 
I knew middle aged PhD (in a math/science/engineering field) that had to be taught how to sweep a floor. And even after that his ability left a bit to be desired.
So, I have no doubt a teen never taught to use a knife or fork might be rather worthless at giving it a try without knowing how. Some people just aren’t too good at figuring shit like that out. Throw in some poor hand-eye coordination or sub par manual dexterity (but not actual handicapped level) and I can certainly believe the OP’s take on what the situation was (not a given, but a decent possibilty).
I’m baffled by this thread. If we are supposed to look for horses not zebras, wouldn’t you guess that something else is going on, rather than assuming that an otherwise normal teenager is literally unable to eat mashed potatoes? I can’t even picture how a normal child would be unable to eat mashed potatoes unless it was some sort of “chained to the toilet” scenario.
I have an 11 year old close relative with severe food phobias, and he will literally only eat a handful of things (bread, chicken strips, cheese pizza and waffles) and he has no problem using a knife and fork. I myself didn’t have the best diet as a child, and despite being raised on fast food and TV dinners I managed to figure it out. I’ve seen plenty of people from different countries picking up a fork for the first time, and while they might be a bit hesitant with peas and the like, mashed potatoes would not be a formidable hurdle. Think about it. If you can’t eat mashed potatoes, you can’t eat ice cream, soup, chili or any number of common foods. It’s a nearly natural skill that toddlers intuitively pick up.
It’s much more plausible that she:
A: Has one of the many grip-related medical issues discussed in this thread.
B: Is mentally or emotionally challenged in some way.
C: Was messing around with dad. i could picture something like “OMG my brother is an idiot, he eats like this, derp derp Look I’m my dumbass brother hurf hurf!.” and the father getting embarrassed and taking the plate from her.
The “spoiled child” scenario is unlikely in the extreme.
Perhaps she was baffled by the utensils, being used to her traditional Cameroonian Ubambhale stick.
There are certain forms of muscular dystrophy that can affect grip strength, and in the early stages, might not show enough deformity to be recognized by outsiders.
“Sophia can’t eat chili! It’s too spicy!”
“My Nathan won’t eat soup…it’s got vegetables in it!”
“Peas? Oh my god, Ella would never eat peas!”
“Two scoops, sugar cone, please!”
Welcome to a generation of children raised on pizza, chicken nuggets, burgers and fries. Yes, it’s real.
if you can hold a cell phone you can hold a fork. If you can stab with a fork and rotate to your mouth then scooping should be possible.