Expecting that a 7 year old could make a simple meal?

[bigbarnfarmer]

I would like my kids to start taking more responsibility, they totally take for granted all i do, like most their age i imagine. However given they are getting older i want to help them become more responsible and more independant.

My 7 year old enjoys food, like sto help in the kitchen and has been making cups of tea for a while now. I was thinking tomorrow i might let him prepare a simple meal, with minimal supervision.

AIBU? and does anyone who thinks its fair enough have any simple meal suggestions.

I don't get it either. Accidents happen, even with adults. Ds1 (6) doesn't need to use the kettle.

I just love the analogy of a 7 year old doing some cooking as being comparable to them being sent up chimneys!

My grandfather was a delivery boys when he was six - he walked around our town delivering hats. Very proud of the fact that in addition to his one penny wages he used to pocket the bus money, walk instead and save the money.

DS at six is quite competent with a sharp vegetable knife (although wouldn't let him unless I'm in the same room).

My sister has three kids (now 24, 22 and 19) who once each them were 7 made the tea for everyone one night a week - within reason they were allowed to choose what they made and my sister "assisted" (ie kept a safety eye on the proceedings)

Maryz we have those oat filled microwaveable things to avoid the hassle of filling water bottles! Tho dt2 managed to burn one of them by microwaving it too long and god it reeked the whole house out!

I had a friend whos 7 year old couldn;t butter a crumpet. He thought I was way cool when I "let" him use a blunt butter knife to put on his own butter when I had him!

Aitch I think you raise an interesting point about the second child copying the first.

Even I find it hard sometimes to make dinner with three children running about; I don't have much time, I want to do it quickly and safely without shouting at them the whole time to stop running. That's why, some evenings, I keep them out of the kitchen.

I do not often have time to supervise them cooking a meal themselves.

They end up doing things that are actually a real help to me - peeling potatoes; unloading the dishwasher. What has been a help is them learning how to safely run the bath - eg. learning how to check that the water isn't too hot.

In an Italian or Indian family, a child not being allowed to chop veg and help with dinner at 7 is very unusual. Food is such a huge part of the culture and learning.

Some of the responses here make it clear why we have a problem with obesity in the UK. Children and young adults just want convenience and can't be bothered to get up off of their bums and and make themselves something from scratch. Just want Mum to do it or failing that get a take away...

A "simple meal" as the OP put it for a 7 yo doesn't mean they have to come in contact with scalding water unsupervised. Use your imagination.

Of course it doesn't.

Ds1 is encouraged to cook as I was.

Ds2 actively tries to help and he is 2.

It's just the kettle for me. Too heavy.

scarlett my dds dad is african...and I agree, in the context of what the kids in his family do, it is shocking how little we think kids here are capable of

I agree with exotic AGAIN. I promise I don't just follow you around agreeing with your posts

Don't worry-I like it. It is such a novelty!
Mine went off to university being able to turn their hand to anything, including a roast dinner for 6, but I wish that I had started earlier. I admire some people on here who have their DCs doing a lot at 6yrs.

supervised is ok but I would not let my seven year old cook unsupervised, especially near hot water etc, making simple dishes like sandwiches and tortillas is fine but to do got meals is a no no. I think simple chores like tidying their room etc is more adequate :)

no one is talking about them cooking UNSUPERVISED!! the point is that they will be supervised but they are more than capable of cooking at this age WITH a watchful eye and a bit of help where appropriate, ie i will drain pasta, veg etc for the boys to then continue adding the sauce. but lifting up a pan filled with boiling water and pasta is too much for my 9yr old, he is quite scrwany tho! but my 12yr old ds1 can and does drain the pasta himself.

and i dont think we are mkaing them cook as a chore, its more about them learning life skills and getting them involved in the running of the household, tis not a chore, its LIFE!!

maybe we have unusually heavy kettles, Marsha? or weak children.

you know that there have only been about three people saying that 7 is too young to cook a simple meal and the rest of us are just arguing about hot water?

Aitch.

Ds1 one has skinny arms I tell you and the kettle is irritating. It annoys me fgs.

My sensible DD1 is 5.5 and has made her first victoria sponge. I taught how to use the oven, where to stand when opening the oven door etc.
I read out what to do and she did it, including getting the cake in/out of the oven.
As long as you stand there and watch them do it I don't see why a sensible 7yr old coulnd't do something.
When she gets home from school DD1 will be making white sauce with me (in the chance she might actually eat it).

exotic I agree with you too. Maybe you can be the new Nick Clegg ;)

And aitch yes - this does seem to be a kettle-specific debate! Maybe any manufacturers moonlighting here could invent some sort of uber safe version.

However do we sleep at night knowing they have a hot water bottle...miaow. I do realise it's a problem. And there will doubtless have been some awful accidents...but better a 7 year old trained in how to (and not to) use one that a child exploring out of ignorant curiosity and ending up scarred.

This has reminded me of the time DB and I were left alone at breakfast at probably 4 and 6 while my parents ran around like mad folk getting us ready for the ferry, and DB decided to 'cook' lettuce by putting some on a china plate on the hob.

Larks.

That'll be the same holiday DM forgot all our passports. I imagine the two incidents are connected...

I'm quite shocked how anti-kids helping some people are. My five year old helps by peeling veg etc and I let him stir things on the hob if I'm watching. I think if we don't teach them how to be safe then that is when things can go wrong and if we catch them while they're young and enthusiastic we are more likely to have a teenager who can help round the house and fend for themselves when the time comes.

The Brownie cooks badge which is for 7-10 yr olds, which I have watched many Brownies complete, includes peeling veg and cutting fruit, as well as cooking a breakfast including two hot items - that could be toast & porridge, or it could be eggs & bacon, or beans on toast etc. The point of the badge was for them to learn about safety in the kitchen, as well as how to put beans on toast. They were supervised but it was a 'test' situation, so they practised at home first.

IME the tasks were pretty age-appropriate and I never saw any 'near misses' where they weren't being safe with hot/sharp/electrical things.

D

you know that there have only been about three people saying that 7 is too young to cook a simple meal and the rest of us are just arguing about hot water

It is heartening that a lot of people have now come on and have their DCs doing a lot in the kitchen, a vast improvement from the start where someone memorably thought it akin to sending 7yr olds up chimneys and Fabby who let her DCs leave home for university- after she had waited on them hand and foot for 18 yrs-in the misguided view that this is good parenting.

The boiling water issue is neither here nor there-let them cook and do the hot bits yourself -until you deem them capable. At secondary school they deal with boiling liquids, and they do if they go on camps, so by 12, at the latest, you should have sufficiently trained them to use a kettle.
It seems a bit ridiculous if they can go to a Scout meeting and be cooking a meal and they get home and are not allowed to make a hot chocolate or similar.

How many people have told their DCs what to do if they do burn their hand?

I asked the question because I have a distinct feeling that many parents fail to cover it.
You begin to think that cubs/brownies etc should be compulsory when parents fail to do simple ironing tasks etc.
I see that St John's Ambulance takes DCs from 5yrs and does life skill type things.
I think that some parents have lost touch with how much DCs can and should do or they would simply rather keep them in a risk free environment and then wonder why they are irresponsible when let off the leash.

exotic....."run it under the cold tap"
although chez catsmamma, that is standard advice for all injuries

a graze
a cut
a bump
a bruise
a pimple
a broken finger (whoops, but it was x rayed a week later)
toast stuck in the toaster.... oh no wait that's different, that's poking about with a fork, getting a shock and THEN running yourself under the tap :o

St John badgers learn first aid from 5, they also have badges that cover some basic cooking bits (depends on the unit and what the facilities are but normally sandwiches, fruit salad type things)