allowed to cook sausages by themselves

[olivia8allthepies]

Hi. My dd1, who is 9, stayed over at a friend's house last week (also 9). I was surprised to hear that they got up early the following morning and fried some sausages for themselves while the friend's parents were in bed. AIBU to think that they were a bit young to be doing this? Apparently they had asked permission and the mum had said it was fine!

My mother was very overprotective and wouldn't let my brother use the oven until he was about 15!

I would have allowed DD at that age, so long as she was being sensible - which, tbh, she always was when cooking. But she also enjoyed cooking and had made other stuff at that age too.

Parents were upstairs - a quick shout away if they had discovered they needed help.

I'd be wary of letting them cook sausages due to the risk of them looking cooked but being raw inside. That's why we bake sausages rather than fry or grill them.

If she was in the Cubs she'd be frying her own sausages at age 9 on an open fire that she had lit herself...there would be leaders hovering around supervising though.

I don't think it's too young my 14 and 10 year old can fry things, not sausages as I only think of doing them them grilled or baked.

DD had to do cooking for a couple of Brownie badges around that age. I was in the house, but left her to cook unsupervised for much of the time. It was only when she needed heavy pans lifting or a full kettle I felt the need to intervene sometimes.

Its great when they can have a go unsupervised - the sense of achievement they feel is so much greater than when mum or dad has had to help.

I'm really impressed. I couldn't even peel potatoes at 16...my mum always used a knife and no one ever showed me how to use a peeler so I tried with the knife and just had tiny bits if potato left !!

I can cook perfectly well now btw. I had a bit if a martyr mother who wouldn't have let me do these things in case of mess/it was too much trouble and she simply must do it all herself you know.

I think it's great that so many kids can cook by 9/10.

When I was 10 I went to my 8 year old friends house who made us tuna pasta salad by herself and showed me how to load the dishwasher while her mom worked in the living room, it blew my mind!

On the other hand our other mate who was a little older than us used to have to get her mom to make a sandwich and couldn't brush her own hair, some parents just enjoy doing everything for the kids, others take pleasure in teaching them skills from an early age I guess.

My DS is 9.
This thread has made me think. He doesn't know how to cook sausages or how to fry anything. However, it's not because I think it is unsafe for his age group, just that I have never got round to giving him a chance to learn to do it. And I think I have been remiss. He is capable of doing it, would enjoy it and it is a valuable life skill. Yes of course, the first time should be supervised and probably the next couple too, but then I think he could do it.
He can make a cup of tea (learned for a Cub badge) and toast in a toaster, but lacks confidence to do more due to lack of experience - my fault for not providing the experience.

Re the situation in the thread title - if I had been those parents in bed, I would have asked the visiting child if they had cooked sausages before and felt confident doing it. If they said 'yes' and my own child was competent, then. Would have let them. If visitor had not done it before, I would have either got up to supervise or not let them do it. Another way I guess, would have been to let competent, confident own child do it and get other child to promise to just watch - but better to get up and help, so visitor got to join in too.

Right, this weekend we will be frying...

My DD would not know how to fry sausages - but she would have cooked them in the oven on a rack to let the fat drip away...

I set my parents kitchen on fire age 9 grilling sausages for my dads birthday breakfast (my idea, not theirs!)so no not without me in the room :)

When I went to university, I was clueless. I didn't even know the water had to be boiling before the egg went in for 3 mins. Result - raw egg. My housemates had to teach me to boil pasta, cook a tomato sauce.....everything in fact.
All I had learned to do at home was make fairy cakes and toast in a toaster. My Mum just did it all without thinking.
Of course I quickly learned, but our children are more capable than we think. They can be taught about the dangers of sharp knives, hot ovens and boiling fat. They are capable of learning to pour boiling water and to make themselves a sandwich or bowl of soup. We should start small young and build up. It is true that it is something which can give a sense of achievement.
Likewise, children should learn to wash up. So many these days have never done it before doing Food Tech type courses at Secondary school.

I think I was around 11 when my parents went out.

I got a bit peckish so wrapped a sausage in a bit of tin foil, and then (using a fork) cooked it over a gas flame.

M&D were not angry, just a little surprised when they got home

A other one whose dc would have grilled them, rather than frying, but that aside, am surprised that anyone is saying their dc aren't allowed near a cooker at all.
ok, frying with possibility of fat spitting is more risky, but surely most 9 yr olds have done some cooking.

As a student, I chopped up a potato and boiled it in a mug of Bovril.

or...

As a student a couple of years later, I cooked a mince curry, then realised I had not cooked any rice (because we didn't have any) so I served it on corn flakes

i think YABU sorry, sounds like the other girl has experience in cooking and in any case a the average 9 year old can use common sense to do a bit of basic cooking.

Cooking at 4!! I grew up in a culture where children are given responsibilities early but I dint know any that can cook at 4

I would have no problem with my 8 year old making me a fry up. I expect it in fact

Hmmm, thinking about it, my reluctance to let DD use the hob is probably partly because only the back two burners actually work, so it is a long way to reach. When my new job is installed, she will get to do lots more cooking.

I cooked at 4- not full meals but food.

There is a world of difference between a child involved in cooking since tiny toddlerhood and a child whose only experience is the odd cupcake baking. The first I'd trust with knives and the second I wouldn't even trust to safely use the oven. In other culture you see 4yo using machetes this is because they have been around them since birth, I believe the same is necessary for knife safety with children. Everyday use, watching adults etc.

Interesting thread. Marking place to read when I am not so tired.

HollyBdenum ds used this to reach the oven but he was helping by cutting up mushrooms with a normal dinner knife when he was in his high chair and things like that. He learnt how to use a potatoe peeler at 3 being taught specifically to peel away from himself despite the fact this makes way more mess. It helped him achieve the independance he wanted and would have gone hunting for without supervision otherwise. The brilliant thing is often they will learn a new skill want to do it loads and then get board so only return to it occassionally. No end of having to supervise cups of coffee and tea making in the beginning. It actually got to the point where he was so bored he didn't want to make his hot chocolate himself and would prefer you to do it for him

See the interesting thing with the people who say but they wouldn't know how to tell when it was cooked is that for me I started at that point. I started with doing the oven bit and deliberately taking it out early and getting ds to tell me if it was cooked enough (guided until he was right consistently). Then it was ds setting the temperature and putting it into the oven and the determination if it was cooked with me taking it in and out of a hot oven. The final stage was to do the actual in and out of a hot oven. To me knowing when food is ok/not gone off and when it is safely cooked is just as important as the physical operation of the cooking device. We are currently doing the difference between meat that HAS to be cooked through so there is no pink for safety reasons and meat that is ok and often nicer a little on the pink side. Operating the washing machine is the next thing on my list to teach him. I see no harm in kids learning important life skills. Ds learnt how to iron a tea towel last year because he was interested but he used by crafting iron which is old and does not get as hot as the power steamer iron that others in the house prefer to use. When he next shows interest I will teach him how to iron a school polo shirt. I fully expect to have to steam the new creases out the first couple of times

A lot of this seems odd to me as this is the sort of thing that you earnt brownie badges for when I was younger. It seems perfectly normal. It is one of the reason I would like ds to join scouts. They learn so many skills and do so many interesting activities.

OP I wouldn't be happy either.

I have two teenage kids and they have been cooking from an early age however there are safety considerations that make children more vulnerable than adults.

I have no idea how much oil there was in the pan- but no matter, oil gets a great deal hotter than boiling water. Sausages ( or anything shallow fried) have a nasty habit of spitting unexpectedly, throwing out hot oil.

Nine years olds are also a great deal shorter than an adult, so their face would be much nearer the pan.

So in short no- although scrambled eggs may have been fine, sausages too dangerous for a 9 year old.

I always bake sausages in the oven anyway, on a rack.

No, my children can fry sausages now,as teens, but at 9 years old, definitely not safe. Too much larking about, too little gravitas.
No chance.

Some kids are sensible, others.....less so!

Frying pans aren't the safest thing you can use in the kitchen, and sausages spit. Not an ideal choice for unsupervised primary kids, I'd have thought...how would you feel if their school teacher had left them alone to fry sausages?