It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Nonnadiluca

My grandson was chopping and peeling veg at 2, Montessori taught how to do it safely. He's 16 now, a great cook and still has all his fingers!!!!

Kaylataste

I wouldn't blame the teacher,i would blame the health and safety executive.The poor teacher probably thinks its as ridiculous as the rest of us.

ladyholly

Just curious. What do they do with the bought pastry that they cant put in the oven because tthey might burn themselves? My daughter who is now in her 40s "made" fruit salad at school with tinned friut salad.

Instead of cooking lessons which are obviously useless it might bbe better to spend the time on finacial stuff and budgeting. At least that way the youngsters might learn something useful.

euronorris

What an odd stance from the school. DD does an aftershock club on Tuesdays called 'healthy choices'. It's basically a cookery club, and there is an oven that gets used for the class. The teacher does that bit, but they are encouraged to do everything else. For context, DD will be 6 tomorrow.

cbsexec

All the children at our local primary school have cookery lessons every week.  Depending on age and skill they cook pizzas, cakes, cottage pie etc.  The children love it and all the measuring etc helps towards maths.  It’s amazing what even the littlest can do if they are allowed.   At our local high school the first cookery (food tech) lesson was making a sandwich 😱

JinJinBlue

ladyholly said:

Just curious. What do they do with the bought pastry that they cant put in the oven because tthey might burn themselves? My daughter who is now in her 40s "made" fruit salad at school with tinned friut salad.

Instead of cooking lessons which are obviously useless it might bbe better to spend the time on finacial stuff and budgeting. At least that way the youngsters might learn something useful.

Haven't a clue to be honest. Whatever it is, it's not the class that put it in the oven. Jam tarts maybe, something like that. Couldn't agree more about teaching youngsters to budget and be more money aware. Kaylataste said:

I wouldn't blame the teacher,i would blame the health and safety executive.The poor teacher probably thinks its as ridiculous as the rest of us.

Yes. You're probably right. I suppose their hands are tied. 

ladyholly

The thing I find astounding is that at 18 many will be at uni having to cook for themselves on a budget and yet they they wont even have the experience of putting something in the oven (depending on their parents.). I despair of the modern H & S. Living is a risk, getting out of bed is a risk or should we all wrap our children in cotton wool. These kinds of rules make no sense as the best way to learn is to do something. Ok the odd child may burn themselves but it is unlikely to be serious and from that they will learn and so will their class mates though I do not remember anyone burning themseselves when I was at school or hearing about it when DD was at school

H & S is necessary but it does seem to be taken to stupid extremes in places where it is not needed.

Bluegreen143

Many of my friends have the excessive H&S attitude at home too which is even more worrying. If they aren’t getting the skills at home or school, where will they?

For example I am constantly amazed at how people I know baby their six year olds (talking about neurotypical children here). When I look at DS, I see a confident, competent, responsible wee guy who I can trust to be helpful, contribute to the family and yes all kids can misbehave but I give him the trust in most situations til he proves he isn’t ready (then I talk to him about why we can’t let him do XYZ any longer as a consequence of his behaviour). 

Honestly, many of my friends treat their six year olds as naughty toddlers who they need to constantly supervise and plug into a screen to ensure they aren’t getting into trouble. 

Let’s not even get into how I also think they baby their three year olds 😆 of course I don’t give DD anywhere near as much freedom or responsibility as DS, but she is turning into a helpful wee thing too.

Example - DS gets up with DD on weekend mornings, they do come say hi so I’m aware they’re up but I stay in bed to read. They play nicely in their playroom then DS makes them both toast, cereal or microwave porridge for breakfast. Then he knows if they have played for an hour they are allowed a bit of TV though he comes to ask first before he puts it on. I listen out for them but they rarely need me. 

Most of my friends tell me they could never trust their kids (same age as mine) as they would trash the house, make a mess when making breakfast and get into a huge fight with their sibling. And they wouldn’t leave the electronic devices alone. So they never leave them unsupervised and will always get up to watch them and make their breakfast.

Of course I’m not saying you shouldn’t make your kids breakfast!! It’s just the attitude that they are too little to be trusted so we won’t even try to teach them independence skills that bothers me. 

greenbee

@Bluegreen143 - I remember my mum saying the same when I was younger. Most of my friends didn’t learn to cook as their parents didn’t want to deal with the potential mess and chaos! As a result, when we were getting lunch on the table for when my mum got back from work in the holidays, my friends’ parents were greeted by grumpy hungry kids!

The H&S issues at school may well be the result of parents complaining/concerned that their kids will cut/burn themselves. 

Well done on raising your children to have the life skills they need, and to be kind and considerate. 

joedenise

I think you have absolutely the right attitude @Bluegreen143 towards teaching your kids.  I was very much like you when mine were little but no electronics to worry about then just the TV - no remotes either it was such a long time ago!

Mine were making and baking cakes by the age of 7 and very successfully too - they made better cakes than me!  Mine always turn out like biscuits, LOL!