Reply to At what age should kids be allowed to use real knives or the stove?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I start kids on banana, avocado and (ripe) watermelon (off the rind) at 2.  As they show ability, they graduate to strawberries, mushrooms, etc.  Usually by 6 or 7, they’re cooking on their own (supervised) for everything other than frying or carrying full pans to the sink.[/quote]

not the op, but do you mind sharing a little more detail? I'd love to start my son (2)doing this as he helps me cook most nights and REALLY wants to cut. What knife did you use? Sounds like you have the kind of approach I'd love to hear more details re: the cutting.[/quote]

I'm not the PP you're responding to, but at 2 or so, I gave my kids things like banana, avocado, etc... for them to cut with a dinner knife.  I showed them how to curl their fingertips under when holding the food down, etc..  and let them go for it.  Now at 7, my older kid uses all of our knives, except our largest chef's knife (which frankly I hardly use because I find it too heavy) and our younger kid at 5 can cut pretty much anything with a paring knife.

Bananas, avocados, cheese, etc are easy because they are soft and don't roll around.  I've showed my 5 year old how to cut the ends off of a zucchini and then split in lengthwise so she has a flat surface when slicing rounds.  At first I'd have her slice just the main part and leave the last bit for me to help her with but now she can do all of the slicing.

Basically you want to go slow and steady but give them leeway to mess up.  Also, even with a sharp paring knife, my kid isn't going to do much damage even if she cuts herself.[/quote]

pp here thanks for this! I'm going to give it a try.[/quote]

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