Well, we never ut much thought into this, it just seemed to happen naturally. Lindsay was eating with us at the table from about 18mths and did quite well. Erin was a bit younger, around 16months cause she was so determined to do it and not be in the highchair. Paige has been eating with us since about 14 months as she took to feeding herself really early. It is a really nice family time especially as DH is out of the house all day most days.

As for growing up too fast, if they can't eat at the table properly and feed themselves, how can you expect to take them to restaurants? Our kids all behave excellently when we go out and quite often get comments about this. I think you just do what works best - theres no point to fighting over highchairs etc with your toddler, cause they just wont eat, we'll stress and nobody's happy.