Is this normal or am I a crap parent

[sma1978]

DD11 came home from school today, she has to spend a couple of hours on her own after school, as I work full time. She is mostly sensible, but this had me baffled. She decided to make a sandwich, she could have had ham or cheese, but she wanted tuna. So gets a new tin out the cupboard. Unbeknown to me the new tins I bought don't have a ring pull. So she solves the problem by using one of my new sharp knives to open the tin. Fuck knows how she managed it, without injuring herself. But she did somehow.
When I asked her why she didn't use the tin opener, she said 'I saw that but didn't know what it was'.
2 things to note here, she has used the tin opener before, and she has never seen me going at a tin like something out of physco. Needless to say my knife is fucked.

Seriously is this normal for an 11yo or am I doing something wrong.

😂 I’m glad she didn’t hurt herself! Mine is only tiny, so can’t comment on how normal it is- but I admire her entrepreneurial spirit in the face of adversity!

Oh dear OP! At least she didn't hurt herself. Do you know what? She had a problem, she solved it - that's a great quality, so I'd say you are a great parent. Maybe time to teach how to use the tin opener though!

Maybe hide the knives for a while 😂😂

This is exactly something my 12 year old DS would do.

Buy packet ham

I can relate to this mum DD is older than yours now and was feeding the cats when the ring pull came off. Did she get the can opener out of the drawer, nope, she tried a knife, found it didn’t work so just opened another can.

When I asked why, she said she didn’t know how to open the can, this is a 19 year old who has lived in self catering student accommodation for the past year and who EATS TUNA FROM A CAN THAT NEEDS OPENING WITH A TIN OPENER

Maybe I am also a crap parent.

I think occasional spurts of idiocy like that are entirely normal at that age (and for quite some time after). She sounds quite tenacious if she managed to get into a tuna tin with just a knife!

She did it without chopping her fingers off. It’s fine, that’s how children learn.
I wouldn’t care about the knife, although I have some eye watering expensive ones amd it would break my heart to see them ruined. But she obviously needs to be explained again: you don’t mess with a knife, you can do some real damage.
I’d save this one for her wedding speech😂.

Kids do stupid things: very normal.

My tin opener exists solely for tuna. Why can’t they put ring pulls on it?! This in John West’s fault, not yours OP.

I am wincing at the thought of her going for it with a sharp knife!

But it’s exactly the sort of thing my DD (similar age) would do. She did well to come up with a solution, and not just settle for something else easier to open.

Definitely not a crap parent - it’s the tuna’s fault not yours

I remember, at a similar age, fairly sensible child, I tested my dad's razor with my thumb to see how sharp it was. Turns out it was very sharp.
Actually, I might have been about 16
I had excellent parents, not their fault at all.

Totally normal 😂

I decided to put a thermometer under the grill at that age cos I wanted to watch the mercury go up, it went up alright 🤦‍♀️

Totally normal. I vividly remember my then 18 year old very intelligent and street smart younger brother cooking some beans. The microwave was broken and the instructions said put in a pan and cover. We have gas hobs. He covered the pan with kitchen paper didn't have a clue why were panicking when we found it.

I remember being home alone after school at this age and mistaking the 10 minute button for the 10 second button on the microwave and nearly burning the house down.

Not a crap parent at all - I’m impressed! My 13 year old would just stand forelornly looking at said tin of tuna and decide it was “impossible” and then make himself some supernoodles instead. (In fact - he probably wouldn’t have even thought to take a tin of tuna out of the cupboard in the first place because he wouldn’t have known what to do with it!)

(10yr old DD on the other hand could have cooked a 3-course meal and tidied up afterwards with no help!)🤷🏼‍♀️

If it makes you feel better - DH (then just my boyfriend, or maybe fiancé) once got a call from his flatmate to let him know that the fire brigade were en route to their flat and that his microwave would be replaced (by said flatmate). It turned out that flatmate’s fianceé had no idea that metallic items shouldn’t go in a microwave and had tried to soften a block of lurpak in it. She also hadn’t no idea that softening a block of butter should only take a max of about 30secs and put it in for 2 minutes - not only did the microwave start throwing sparks but the butter was a pool by the time it did! She was in her 20s so your DD’s resourcefulness and good knowledge at 11 seems pretty good to me! 🤦🏼‍♀️