When should my 8 yr old begin??

Question

I was listening to the radio and they were talking about children cooking. my question is what are some foods that i could teach my 8 yr old to prepare for himself. we have toaster items and working on the microwave but should he be boiling water for hot dogs or am i on the right track with microwave and toaster things

Answer 1

well I started helping in the kicthen at age 2 1/2 with mixing things, and at age 7 I started making main courses for dinner with my mom working on other things with me, and at age 10 I did full 3 course dinners completly on my own. if your child is 8 and not doing more than microwave and toaster then he is way behind in learning any thing about cooking. he should have been boiling watter for hotdogs at age 7 at the latest. I did it by age 5. he should have been baking in the oven by age 8. and he should be preparing food on the range by age 9 also at the latest. I was baking bread on my own at 6. microwave and toasters are what you teach a 3 year old about.

I am 17 now. and I am preparing to be a culinary student by this fall at one of the best culinary schools in the US.

Answer 2

My oldest grandson loves to cook. He has been helping in the kitchen ever since he was 4. Boiling water is not a good idea for an 8 year old.

Sometimes not a good idea for a 15 year old. My oldest daughter (the mother of the oldest grandson) was and still is horrible in the kitchen. First she wanted to know how to boil water. Then she pulled up a chair to watch the water heat up. I asked what she was doing and she explained she didn't want the water to burn.

When he was 7'ish, my grandson was pretty handy with the toaster and microwave when he was fixing himself a snack or meal. He was not allowed to use the stove unless someone was in the kitche with him. He was doing burgers and scrambled eggs with supervision, but no interference.

He pretty much had run of the kitchen by the time he was 12. At 14, he sometimes watches the food channel and heads for the kitchen to experiment with a recipe. He has plans to be a chef, I just hope it's not where he needs to ask "Want fries with that?"

Answer 3

Eeeek! Deep fry some fries?! Egads! Someone call child protective services on that answer!
You know your child better than anyone. You know what he's capable of and how mature he is. No, I personally would never have let my son near boiling water when he was 8!
Don't second guess yourself...you're original thought was right on the money! Microwave and toaster things (even the toaster can be a bit dangerous). The micro will teach your son about how when things are cooked properly, they turn out great. He'll realize that proper micro timing, etc. are important. This will carry over into real cooking when he gets a bit older.
You're on the right track, as I said, and your initial thought was obviously best for your son.
There's nothing that says your son can't help you prepare dinner. You'll be there to supervise, and he can do all the measuring, pouring, setting the table, etc.
But again, only you - the one who knows your child best - can know what he can handle and what he can't.

Answer 4

i was taught to use the microwave really young just to get food i wanted like when i was little i liked warm milk and i would wake up every morning and push the GO button on the microwave and it would just warm the milk up. The only thing is that the milk was in there b4 i woke up and that the time was already set too. That way it was simple to learn. Other wise I didn't use the microwave until i was 10 or so. Or at least that is when i learned how it worked. The toaster on the other hand is very simple. Tell them that wen you want something toasted you put the food in the two slots and push down the lever. This way it is simple. But if i were you i would help them get the food out of the toaster and microwave so they didn't burn themselves.

Answer 5

Well, when I was 8, I was already cooking like a chef. That was because my mom hated to cook. We didn't have a microwave back then, so I had to cook everything on the stove. It was weird growing up..... :)

My son is 8 and can work the toaster and microwave. I think I may start teaching him how to work the stove this year. I will probably start with simple things like hot dogs and soup. (He likes Ramen, so I may show him how to make that first...)

I think you are on the right track for now.

Answer 6

I would only allow them to use the stove under supervision, at that age -- they could "forget" and leave the room, and it only takes a second for things to get very dangerous... I'd even supervise the first few uses of the toaster and microwave: there are important rules to be learned with both (i.e. don't try to pry toast out with a metal utensil, especially while the toaster is still plugged in; don't put any metal in the microwave). Eight years old is a good age to start, but don't just throw them in there.

Answer 7

We are Italian and Jewish. All of us learned the fundamentals of cooking before we were ten. We grew UP in the kitchen.

My son does the same things that I did at his age. He can boil pasta (he has me drain it, though... That's one of the rules until he's a little older). To boil pasta, I don't see what the problem is. Throw some water in a pot, some salt, let it boil, and then throw in the pasta. After the pasta's in, turn down the heat to medium so that it doesn't overflow.

He can preset the oven for baking and broiling things, but *I* put things in and take them out until he's bigger and stronger. He's allowed to mix up foods, too.

In letting my son help out in the kitchen cooking, I think that I'm giving him a sense of independence, while teaching him cooking skills, too. He's eight, by the way.

Foods that are okay (with parental supervision of course) would be mac and cheese, spaghetti, hot dogs, and frozen veggies. Teach him the basics about boiling water, and drain it for him until he gets older.

Answer 8

the microwave and toaster are ok to use at 8 but i would leave using the stove alone at least for another year or 2 there are many foods that can be cooked in the microwave. like hot pockets,pizza rolls or even tv dinners safety first

Answer 9

I was boiling water for hot cereals when I was 5 years old. By the time I was 7 I was baking on my own.

Answer 10

My son is five and loves to cook! He is a whiz at the microwave and can chop and cook on the stove with supervision. He loves to eat things like shrimp and capers so I feel that teaching them to love cooking also teaches them to like different foods. We cook lots of fancy foods together and that is the highlight of our day, With your help, your eight year old should be able to make lots of fun stuff. It is also a chance to learn about nutrition and math.