life skills

I always recall how in my younger days, my parents will forbid us from entering the kitchen, for fear that we will injured ourselves. No doubt, there are dangers around, but we can take precautions to lower this risk! Here are some basic rules parents can adopt

• Keep young children away from hot appliances like ovens, toasters and kettles
• When you are cooking, always use the rings at the back of the cooker and turn pan handles towards the back. This way they can’t be grabbed or knocked over by active children of any age
• Push your kettle to the back of the worktop and choose one with short or curled flex so that it can’t be pulled off the top
• Keep knives and scissors in a high drawer which is out of reach
• Keep cleaning products high up and out of sight and reach and, for low cupboards, fit safety catches
• Use cleaning products which contain a bittering agent to stop children swallowing them
• Don’t hold your child and a hot drink at the same time and don’t pass hot things over children’s heads
• If using any hot appliances, such as a kettle or oven, make sure children understand how this can be dangerous and keep young children at a distance
• Show older children how to use an oven glove when taking anything out of the oven and how to put it down safely on a heatproof surface
• Pick a recipe that is easy to follow and doesn’t have too many ingredients so that you can focus on supervising your child and not reading through the recipe – this also helps to keep it fun
• Before you get started, allocate tasks to children which are right for their age and ability, for example buttering a cake tin, sifting flour or cracking eggs
• Supervise and show children how to use kitchen equipment safely, i.e. when grating vegetables or whisking eggs
• Always supervise children when they are using knives or other potentially hazardous utensils

Adapted from http://www.childalert.co.uk/article.php?articles_id=327