We can perceive that you have little kids who want to join you in the kitchen. You should definitely find it very exciting when your kids want to join in the kitchen but you can not also ignore the threat that comes with their involvement in the kitchen. Kitchen safety for kids is very an unignorable issue and you must know them before you include your superstars in the kitchen. The safety precautions will save you from the headache and keep your family safe from all the hidden threats associated with little kids in the kitchen.
There are lots of precautions that you can take but first of all, you must understand the most important facts of this list. Once you are completely aware of the facts then you can properly and strategically guide your children in the kitchen. We are assuming that your kids are about to begin their kitchen ventures so you have to supervise them all the time. There will come a time when they will be ready for unsupervised cooking but even then make sure they take your permission. We will mostly focus on the supervised cooking of your kids in the kitchen as this is the training time of your kids to learn kitchen safety.
Things That Must Need To Consider For The Kitchen Safety Of Your Kids
- They must ask permission
- Importance of washing hands
- Play safe with the knife
- Instant cleaning is mandatory
- No tasting without permission
- Use of the Potholder
- Handling the cooked food
- Don’t play with fire and water
- Keeping yourself together
They must ask permission
We have already shared about two different involvements of kids in the kitchen. The supervised and unsupervised cooking of your kids in the kitchen. You should make a very strong rule for them that despite the situation they should always ask for permission before going into the kitchen for cooking. You must be very careful while communicating the importance of asking permission as this will make sure they are under your observation. Make this rule unbreakable under all circumstances so kids do not confuse this and think of it as a flexible rule. Moreover, you must start their journey as a supervised one. Your supervision will help them know what to do and what not to do. There will be lots of pressure on you watching and guiding their every move but it will pay a lot in the long run.
Importance of washing hands
Washing hands are good practice and we are sure you do not need a lecture on the importance of always washing hands. Hands are a great source of being contaminated with germs as we can not deny the fact that we are surrounded by germs. Teach your kids to wash their hands before they start working in the kitchen and also when they are finished.
We, adults, are aware of dirty things and we generally keep our hands clean but we must wash our hands before starting to work in the kitchen. Kids, on the other hand, tend to have more germs on their hands as they are super active and less aware of the hygiene facts. Their contaminated hands can affect the whole family so you must teach them this good practice at any cost.
Play safe with the knife
Then comes the knife safety for kids. Kitchen knives are essential but also a great concern while kids are involved in handling them. First of all, you do not want your kids to get injured under any circumstances so teaching them knife safety is very important. You can think this as the most important issue but you can hide those knives from them while washing hands are always important. So prioritizing is not a very good idea here.
Secondly, to keep your kids safe you must provide them special knives that are made of plastic so there is very little chance of getting injured by them. Making a bear claw while using the knife is a very good practice, so teach them this technique over and over. Observe them and make sure they always follow this technique. On top of that, you can provide them with finger guard and let the little ones use plastic utensils until they are ready for the real knife. Finally, be sure to keep an eye on them while they are handling the knife as this one is a very challenging item in the list of kitchen safety for kids.
Instant cleaning is mandatory
Your next preference should be cleaning. While we may be guilty of leaving things to clean for later but clean as you go is the best practice. Teach your kids to clean the mess as they make them. Otherwise, they will later forget about the mess and mess up the whole kitchen. Furthermore, those messes will become very hard to clean later and also be responsible to create bad odor in your kitchen. Finally, it may also become difficult to locate it thus instant cleaning should be another must follow for them.
No tasting without permission
Tasting food while cooking is a normal process. Sometimes we do it to make sure everything is alright like salt. Kids can also be very tempted to taste foods while cooking but this is dangerous for the kitchen safety for kids. They may want to lick items like doe which may contain raw eggs.
Allowing such actions may lead to stomach problems and other health issues. On top of that, putting hot food and/or soup in their mouths will burn their lips and tongue. Finally, make sure that your kids understand those rules so that it will be easy for them to follow and highly benefit them in the long run.
Handling the heat or the stove
Here is another challenge for your kid’s kitchen safety. Like the knives, the stove is also very dangerous for your kids. You should not allow them to go near it while you are not directly involved. First of all, the stove can unleash unimaginable terror if not handled correctly. Moreover, sometimes adults make mistakes with the stove so you need to be very precautious about it. To wrap up, do not let them come near the stove until they are ready for it.
Use of the Potholder
Teach your kids to use potholders or towels designated to hold a hot or warm cooking pot. First and foremost, touching them will injure them and you do not want that to happen to them. These are sensitive areas where you must be patient to teach them over and over.
Handling the cooked food
We are about to finish our tips on kitchen safety for kids and these items are also very important. First of all, you do not want your kids to put the cooked food on a plate that is not properly washed. This ruins the whole point of hygiene and they are not getting along with good practices. Make sure they use a clean plate to put the foods that are finished cooking.
Don’t play with fire and water
Though you are super careful but things can go wrong at any given moment. A cooling fire may arise and your kids will think that water is the solution. On the contrary, putting water on cooking fire has the possibility to make it even bigger. Using fire extinguisher is, of course, the best practice but for small fires, you can also close it with a lid to weaken and stop it. Apart from that teach your kids not to put water on hot oils. Putting water on hot oils are dangerous and they can injure people around it with hot oil splatter.
Keeping yourself together
We know that this was a lot for you on kitchen safety for kids. First of all, you should understand that this is very important for you to measure the risks that you are taking and make a proper mindset about it. Secondly, you must be very patient with the whole process. It may take a long time for your kids to properly understand everything you are teaching them. You can make special slots of time for them so that you can teach them everything little by little without any extra pressure. Finally, if you are not extra calm and cautious during the whole process everything may go in vain.
Final Word
Hope you enjoyed reading this brilliant guide for kitchen safety for kids. We recommend that you follow every step with patience and caution for the complete safety of your kids. We have lots of quality articles on bathroom faucets and kitchen faucets, check them out to make yourself more knowledgeable about kitchen tools. Finally, let us know if we have missed any point that you think deserves our attention.
