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Please enjoy an article by local parent and food enthusiast Daniel Sherwin. Stay tuned for more on how to have fun with your kids in the kitchen, safely, on our Article page.
Baking Lessons: How to Keep Little Hands Safe in the Kitchen
Getting kids in the kitchen is a great way to promote adventurous eating habits. According to a study in Public Health Nutrition, kids who help parents cook eat more fruits and vegetables than children who don’t. However, some parents think the kitchen isn’t a safe place for little ones. While no kitchen is without risks, kids can be capable and confident cooks when parents take these essential safety measures.
Enforce Hand WashingHands carry a lot of germs, especially little ones that spend their days in classrooms, on playgrounds, and riding the bus. Teach your kids the importance of washing their hands before handling raw or cooked foods and demonstrate how to wash hands properly. Encourage hand washing by turning it into a fun activity — singing a song, using brightly-colored soap dispensers, or turning on a timer can keep kids engaged while they lather up.
Practice Knife SafetyIt might seem like the easiest solution to knife safety is to ban your kids from using kitchen knives entirely. But kids want to be involved, and the last thing you need is a curious kid grabbing a sharp knife without the proper safety knowledge.
Introduce knives early to get kids used to the motions of cutting their own food. Preschoolers can start out with plastic butter knives before graduating to kid-safe knife sets, while middle and high schoolers who already have basic knife skills can use more sophisticated tools. As part of your instruction, demonstrate both how to hold a knife and how to handle different shaped foods while cutting them.
Discuss Stove SafetyKids should know how to be safe around a stove long before they’re tall enough to use one. Explain which parts of the stove and oven get hot, and how they retain heat long after they’re turned off. Emphasize the importance of not grabbing pot handles off the stove, and make a point yourself to keep handles facing inward.
Kids are old enough to start using the oven on their own around the age of 12. Set your kids up for success by demonstrating proper use and reviewing safety rules: Never leave the stove unattended, always use dry potholders to handle hot pots and pans, and keep anything that can catch fire or melt away from the stovetop.
Set Safe Tasting RulesTasting is perhaps the best part of cooking as far as kids are concerned. However, not everything is safe to try. Teach kids the USDA food safety principles to prevent burns and food-borne illnesses.
Discuss the importance of keeping meat and raw fruits and vegetables separate, cooking meat, poultry, and eggs before eating, and letting dishes cool before you dig in. Set kitchen cleanliness rules like using separate utensils to cook different dishes and cleaning up promptly after you’re finished cooking.
Make an Emergency PlanPreventing kitchen emergencies is always Plan A, but things don’t always go according to plan. After you’ve talked about how to prevent emergencies in the kitchen, create a game plan for what kids should do if an emergency does happen.
Kitchen emergencies take several forms, including cuts, burns, broken glass, and fires. Detail what constitutes an emergency and how each situation should be handled. While small cuts might only need a Band-Aid and a call to Mom or Dad, a kitchen fire requires a more urgent response. Show kids where smoke detectors are located and how they’re maintained, teach them how to use a fire extinguisher, and create a list of emergency numbers to post on the fridge.
Learning how to cook is an important step on the path to kids’ independence. Make the journey a safe one by introducing cooking concepts gradually and building skills under strict supervision before allowing solo kitchen use. Before long, you’ll have a confident cook on your hands.
Image via Unsplash
Getting kids in the kitchen is a great way to promote adventurous eating habits. According to a study in Public Health Nutrition, kids who help parents cook eat more fruits and vegetables than children who don’t. However, some parents think the kitchen isn’t a safe place for little ones. While no kitchen is without risks, kids can be capable and confident cooks when parents take these essential safety measures.
Enforce Hand WashingHands carry a lot of germs, especially little ones that spend their days in classrooms, on playgrounds, and riding the bus. Teach your kids the importance of washing their hands before handling raw or cooked foods and demonstrate how to wash hands properly. Encourage hand washing by turning it into a fun activity — singing a song, using brightly-colored soap dispensers, or turning on a timer can keep kids engaged while they lather up.
Practice Knife SafetyIt might seem like the easiest solution to knife safety is to ban your kids from using kitchen knives entirely. But kids want to be involved, and the last thing you need is a curious kid grabbing a sharp knife without the proper safety knowledge.
Introduce knives early to get kids used to the motions of cutting their own food. Preschoolers can start out with plastic butter knives before graduating to kid-safe knife sets, while middle and high schoolers who already have basic knife skills can use more sophisticated tools. As part of your instruction, demonstrate both how to hold a knife and how to handle different shaped foods while cutting them.
Discuss Stove SafetyKids should know how to be safe around a stove long before they’re tall enough to use one. Explain which parts of the stove and oven get hot, and how they retain heat long after they’re turned off. Emphasize the importance of not grabbing pot handles off the stove, and make a point yourself to keep handles facing inward.
Kids are old enough to start using the oven on their own around the age of 12. Set your kids up for success by demonstrating proper use and reviewing safety rules: Never leave the stove unattended, always use dry potholders to handle hot pots and pans, and keep anything that can catch fire or melt away from the stovetop.
Set Safe Tasting RulesTasting is perhaps the best part of cooking as far as kids are concerned. However, not everything is safe to try. Teach kids the USDA food safety principles to prevent burns and food-borne illnesses.
Discuss the importance of keeping meat and raw fruits and vegetables separate, cooking meat, poultry, and eggs before eating, and letting dishes cool before you dig in. Set kitchen cleanliness rules like using separate utensils to cook different dishes and cleaning up promptly after you’re finished cooking.
Make an Emergency PlanPreventing kitchen emergencies is always Plan A, but things don’t always go according to plan. After you’ve talked about how to prevent emergencies in the kitchen, create a game plan for what kids should do if an emergency does happen.
Kitchen emergencies take several forms, including cuts, burns, broken glass, and fires. Detail what constitutes an emergency and how each situation should be handled. While small cuts might only need a Band-Aid and a call to Mom or Dad, a kitchen fire requires a more urgent response. Show kids where smoke detectors are located and how they’re maintained, teach them how to use a fire extinguisher, and create a list of emergency numbers to post on the fridge.
Learning how to cook is an important step on the path to kids’ independence. Make the journey a safe one by introducing cooking concepts gradually and building skills under strict supervision before allowing solo kitchen use. Before long, you’ll have a confident cook on your hands.
Image via Unsplash
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