Lighting fires at 4?

[Paperdolly]

My GD’s nursery has been teaching my 4 year old how to light fires with a metal implement to make sparks. AIBU to think this is not an appropriate age for fire starting 😱

In a safe and supervised way I think it's great.

Depends - lots of the outdoor nurseries here do it and my nephew was taught at a similar age on the fire in the lounge. How about talking to the nursery about it and your concerns

It would be impressive if any of the kids have the hand eye coordination and patience to actually do it

It's fine, this is done within forest school methods. Also young children using knives.

I remember learning this as a kid but it’s actually really difficult to pull off - takes a lot of time and effort to actually get a spark going in my experience, more than the attention span of most children!

It’s fine. My DH taught our children at about this age to light campfires and use knives etc. So long as it’s done under supervision I can’t see the issue

Was the ethos of the nursery not outlined when you enrolled ?

Was going to say similar to the above. My son attended a forest nursery and there was loads of making fires & using knives. They're shown in a controlled environment and fully supervised and my son loved it .

My ds does this at forest school and absolutely loves it. They don’t use metal though they use wood and firefighters but he can do it and they roast marshmallows over it. I think it’s lovely, a useful skill and helps them know how to be safe around fire rather than develop a fascination later on and do dangerous experiments.

sounds great!

It’s probably part of a forest school session which will be run by an accredited practitioner and the children will be fully supervised whilst doing it.

My DS nursery did this too… very outdoor based. He loved it at the time… like most things though he’s now 6 and has no memory of it.
Don’t think she will turn into a fire starter op!

I'm baffled. Sounds like you sent your DC to a forest school nursery or similar but you're upset about the things they're teaching them. Didn't you look around? Read the website/leaflets?

My 6 year old does it.

As long as they teach fire safety too.

Do you think hes going to start lighting fires in the living room or burning down garden sheds? It is a good idea to teach children to respect and safely interact with dangerous objects such as fire and knives, in a safe and supervised environment. They're less likely to be injured by a fire if they know what it is and how to behave around it.

My 4 year old does this at his forest school, they also use knives to sharpen wood and cook on fire

My DD would love this. Presumably her parents chose to send her to a nursery school that encouraged these activities?

Perfectly safe. Ours taught them how to use knives, saws, drills (hand cranked) & all sorts at 3.
It’s brilliant.

Mine did this at forest school, they made a fire, made some food, cooked it on the fire then ate it. I think it's brilliant.

I think DD2 was two YO when I first took her to do this.

AIBU to think this is not an appropriate age for fire starting

Why? Does he/she have her own magnesium striker? Do you regularly leave her with fire starting materials but just relied on the fact she didn't know what fire is?

Lots of forest schools about these days. Surely it falls into the essential survival skills category?

My cousins 5 year old did it. And they then burnt down the school.

Not at 5 obvs. She was 10 at the time

Yeah, my kids did that. No arson attempts yet!

They also used knives and saws…