old enough for a sticker chart?

Hi - I'd love to know at what age your kids started to respond well to sticker charts. We have eating issues here, and have done from day 1. They used to be extreme and looking back I can see the mistakes that I made that led to Ella still, at 21 months old, having filthy food habits. The problem we're left with now is that rather than stopping eating when she's had enough, she'll take a huge mouthful, chew it up, and spit the mush all down her top - she actually used to do this throughout a meal, but I've noticed that now it's only the final mouthfuls. I want to teach her not to put that mouthful in her mouth if she doesn't want it, but am not sure how. She also fills up a mouthful of juice or water and squirts that over herself, or throws the (not yet empty) cup, and often throws her food onto the floor on purpose.

Ella loves stickers, but is 21 months old too young to understand the concept of a sticker chart? It doesn't need to be a chart - she has this strange habit of wanting stickers put on her tummy, and the sticker itself is a pretty attractive reward for her. I'm thinking of her getting a reward for each juice (it's V8 Fruit & Vege Juice before you judge me! She doesn't eat fresh fruit, so gets this) that she doesn't make a mess with (she understands "mess" very well). And one for each meal where nothing is thrown or spat. Is that too abstract for her age though? Advice would be appreciated! Ta.

the first time i used a sticker chart with jack was when he was toilet training at 2.5yrs....it worked ok but he wasn't overally into it

i think the best thing to do is just try it.......see if ella does get the gist of it and if it improves her eating, then yay!!   if not, then try something else (just don't ask me what )

We used stickers and stamps a couple of months ago when Michaela was toilet training, they worked well but she didn't like putting them on a chart (she got quite upset actually if they weren't put on her hand) so in a sense the point of the chart, which is also to record good behaviour and work towards a goal, didn't work but the reward aspect worked a treat.

Hey Andie, this may sound dumb, but we've had some success with the technique. We model the behaviour we want and then make a big deal about it.

e.g
me: "i'm finished eating so I'm going to put down my fork nicely and my drink nicely too"
DH "WELL DONE MUMMY! jake, isn't mummy good not making a mess. let's give mummy a sticker"

jake got the drift. i am embarressed to say that we were toilet training at the time however.

The positive modelling and OTT praise for good behaviour has worked really well for us too. 

(Liz, we used it for toilet training too)

Gremlins definitely not, they are sooo not there, but Maya at the same age, for sure. I'm sure Ella will be fine with one.

As for sippy cups, it absolutely beggars belief how the gremlins manage to tip water out of their NON SPILL sippy cups, but they do