to leave the hob on?

[howmanybiscuits]

If you were in the middle of cooking dinner and got called away unexpectedly, so you would be out of the house for about 10-15 minutes what would you do in this situation?

10 yr old DS is absorbed with the computer in the front room.
Potatoes are cooking on the hob.

Which of the following are OK (if either)?

1. Turn hob off, leave DS on computer.

1. Leave hob on low, leave DS on computer, tell him don't go near hob

(Difference of opinion here!)

[formerbabe]

If leaving the house, turn it off. Just in case, I was longer than expected.

[londonrach]

Neighbour died not my mum! I had to look at shell of building till we moved away. At 7 it makes a huge impression.

[Order654]

At 10 and presuming no disabilities then

1. Leave hob on low, leave DS on computer, tell him don't go near hob.
   

My daughters 7 and knows not to touch the hob so at 10 I think he would be fine!

[thedisorganisedmum]

put a timer next to DS to remind him to switch hob off when it rings.

[Ninkaninus]

Hob off, child left at home. Both of mine were sensible at that age, though. Depends hugely on the individual child.

[Chouetted]

Surely leaving the hob on and telling DS not to touch it is the worst of all worlds?

I mean, what if something did happen and he thought he'd be in trouble for turning the hob off?

[NewName54321]

Turn hob off, leave the 10 year old.

If it was electric, I'd say leave the hob on if DS would be actively cooking - he's old enough to supervise a pan, but if he's engrossed in something else, it might well boil over or boil dry.

With gas there is the (albeit slight) possibility of the flame going out and DS might try to relight it without turning off the hob and allowing the gas build-up to clear first.

[ShabbyAbby]

Ask DS to turn the hob off at appointed time. Because if a child is safe to leave at home, then they are able to turn the hob off. If I had to turn it off, it would mean the child was not mature enough to be left alone.

[MitziK]

Turn the spuds off and go.

I did it once with a fully grown DP there to 'keep an eye' on the pot.

Said DP got so engrossed in whatever-the-hell-was-on-telly, I walked back in to a thick, stinking cloud of chargrilled potato where he hadn't noticed a thing until the smoke alarm went off. He was a full ten foot away in an open plan kitchen/diner and knew they were there.

[WisdomOfCrowds]

Hob off, leave child if sensible, take child if not.

[Yabbers]

Turn it off. DD would be fine, but potatoes would burn!

[DiaryofWimpyMumm]

Hob off

[Babdoc]

It’s rather depressing that so many of you think your ten year olds are not only incapable of basic cooking, but can’t even be trusted to turn off a pan at a set time!
When were you planning to actually teach them this basic life skill?
I was cooking whole meals on a gas hob while unsupervised for eight hours every day of the school holidays at that age - I had dinner ready for my parents coming in from work. Ten year olds are not toddlers.
Mollycoddling children does them no favours when they have to cope with real life.

[Margot33]

Turn the hob off.

[Charley50]

Hob off!

[nometal]

Leave hob on . Drag son into kitchen and insist he watch the pot while I am out.

Gas hob with flame failure safety cut off.

[adaline]

It’s rather depressing that so many of you think your ten year olds are not only incapable of basic cooking, but can’t even be trusted to turn off a pan at a set time!

A ten year old who is actively cooking and in the kitchen isn't the same as a ten year old who's engrossed in a video game and likely to ignore a timer or just carry on until the next save point rather than get up and go and turn the hob off, though.

I could cook on the hob at ten but I also know that if was playing a video game at ten, I would probably completely lose track of time and forget to go anywhere near the hob.

[catsofa]

Hob off, potatoes will continue to cook for as long as the water is hot. Put a tea towel over the pot (folded up well away from hob) to help keep the heat in.

[safariboot]

If DS doesn't regularly cook himself, then hob off and possibly move the pan to the back where it won't easily get knocked. As mentioned, that "10-15 minutes" could easily turn into an hour, and then the pan has boiled dry and gets ruined. (Or worse.)

[howmanybiscuits]

Interesting to see a range of responses.

DP offered to give DD and me a lift so we wouldn't be late. We were hurrying to get somewhere as we'd lost track of time. He was cooking.

I realised as we were leaving, he'd left the hob on (I turned it off).

I'd never leave a pan unattended like that, it's one of those small risk / high impact things you just don't do in my opinion.

I've asked him not to do it again and he says he won't, but only because I don't like it (imagine him eye rolling!) not because he actually accepts it's not safe.

[CheshireChat]

But did he tell your DS he left the hob on and that DS needs to keep an eye out?

Depends a lot on how responsible DS is really, I would've absolutely fine with this at 10.

[Dramatical]

Crikey, I was cooking my own mince and tatties on a gas hob while home alone all day for six weeks in the school holidays when I was 10!

Erm, well done 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just because you did this at 10 doesn't really make it ok to do at 10 though, does it?

Let's take a reality check here.

[happymummy12345]

I wouldn't leave the hob on. I would also take ds with me, not leave him at that age

[PregnantSea]

If it's a gas hob I wouldn't risk leaving it at all

[floribunda18]

^Just because you did this at 10 doesn't really make it ok to do at 10 though, does it?

Let's take a reality check here.^

Exactly, I'm sorry your parents were neglectful and irresponsible, what they did was neither normal not acceptable.