Emily, Knives and the Kitchen
We often blog about cooking with our grandchildren
and so you know how Emily enjoys cutting up vegetables: preparing food. On one of their visits we were working in the garden and the girls
were spending their time between helping us and sitting in the house to cool off
(it was 32 C and humid).
It was getting
to be lunch time and we were just starting to talk about what we would make for
lunch when Emily came out with a two glasses of ice water, our hearts soared with pride.
What I was not expecting was what happened next. Emily came out
with a plate of raw vegetables cut into nice size pieces for eating.
Emily is eight years old, too young by our standards to be
using very sharp kitchen knives unsupervised. We had a choice to make in that
moment: support her spirit of generosity and service or act upon our fear of
what did not happen but could have.
As parents all too often we acted upon our fear and watched
as children’s expectation of praise was crushed by words of fear and what 'might' have been. As Grandparents we have
the luxury and wisdom that being one generation removed provides and so we thanked
her for the gift she offered. We all enjoyed a glass of ice water and an appetizer of fresh vegetables in the shade and talked about what we would have for lunch.
BUT now we were left with the challenge of teaching her how
to be safe when using knives and to only use knives when we are in
the kitchen. This also had to be done in such
a way that we did not take away from her gift but added to it her sense of personal accomplishment.
Once we were back in the kitchen and cleaning up we commented
on how sharp the knife she had been using was. We then started to inquire of Emily how she used
it and what safety precautions she used. In this way Emily came to her own decision that
while she did not cut herself it would be best to always have an adult around
when she is cutting up food or working with kitchen equipment.
Did we do the right thing?
The proactive thing would have been to have set out clear rules around
the kitchen when we first started to cook together. So the next time the girls
come to Grandma’s house we are going to sit down and talk about the first rule
in cooking with Grandma. It is always better to cook together where we can laugh, learn and keep each other safe.
Grandma Snyder
©2013-2015 twosnydergirls
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