Dad question - when to teach son how to use a kitchen knife

[GREATWHITE416]

My boy is 3 months shy of 3 years and has been using a real steak knife for a month or two now. Yes, his moma has a fit about it (at times) but as long as long as it stays at the table I don't see the issue.

[da_pepper]

My son killed his first hog, with a crossbow, at 7. I had friends say that I was putting too much pressure on him, so I tried to hold and aim the crossbow first and let him pull the trigger. Well, that was a miss. So next, I told him, ok, it's all you. He nailed it with a perfect shot at 15 yards. I think it all depends on the kid. If they can handle it... I say let them do it with supervision. Not always a right or wrong age, in my opinion (besides the obvious... drinking, smoking, or etc)

[JJtomball]

Teaching knife safety is just like teaching gun safety. If they have access to it then you should be teaching them when and how to safely use it. I was carrying a pocket knife by 7.

My daughter is 5 and she helps me cook using butcher knifes to chop veggies.

The good thing about kids is they can regenerate fingers or learn to live with out a few.


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[riverbowman]

Depends on the kid. I thought my son was trained and ready for his first pocket knife at 6 or 7. It was in his stocking. He opened it up, then about 30 seconds later I hear him say "It's not that bad, dad" as he's leaving a blood trail across the floor. He learned a big lesson and from that day on he used it unsupervised.

knives are everywhere so hopefully exposing him to knife safety is nothing but a good thing.

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

It’s on page 8-24 in the instruction manual.

[panhandlehunter]

I bought a plastic knife set for my daughter. They are serrated and will cut veggies and stuff, but won’t cut you. She’s learning on those first. She’s 4, still not ready for her to use a real knife.

[Drycreek3189]

This question wouldn’t even have came up just 20/30 years ago, my how times have changed. As a grade schooler, I had my own Case pocket knife, as most of the boys did. This is not a knock on the OP, because times truly have changed.

I have kids of two different generations, some with my first wife, and one with my forever wife. I pretty well raised the first ones very differently than the youngest because there was a big gap between them. The youngest is 24, the others are in their 50s. My point being, I was a good father to all, but spent much more time with the youngest because my situation was different. So....the older ones had to fill in some gaps on their own because in my mind it was just a given that certain things would be learned on their own. Some, but not all, of that was a mistake. Now that I’m a lot older myself I can see that. My oldest son was hunting on his own, with me within a few hundred yards, when he was 12 years old. My youngest never sat by himself until he was probably 16. Part of that was because I was afraid of what he would shoot, part of it was because I just wanted to be with him. I’m not sure that’s good or bad, it just was.

So, OP I think you have it well in hand, you know your kid better than we do, and I’m sure you’re more qualified to make those decisions.

[TexasBob]

We do our best to take the mystique out of all things for our 4 year old. She knows not to touch a knife without us, but chops veggies for dinner with our help using our chef knives. Same goes for tools, she has her own hammer and screwdrivers that live in my work shop. We have been having the same talks around guns as well. She is a solid kid though, I have been around some older than her that I don't trust with the play doh cutters.

[cva34]

Tell your wife you’re raising him to be a man dadgum it!

Nothing wrong with a plastic knife for a while. 95% of kids will still learn the hard way what a knife can do no matter how much you teach them.

That hard way is the way they DON'T FORGET

when my Kids were little We told them don't touch stove HOT!!! didn't seem to mean a thing ...Until they touched it Ouch!!!! from that time on HOT MEANT SOMETHING TO THEM...

Knives probably a similar thing !!!

[hooligan]

My daughter is 2 1/2 and “helps” me cook all the time. She has plastic knives she uses and I let her cut her own fruit or food if she wants. Make sure she holds it correctly and is understanding how to use it. I don’t think it too soon. My wife’s tells me she doesn’t need to learn yet but why not. Expose them early and I won’t be as worried when she’s big enough to reach into the drawers with the sharp knives

[DTala]

every kid, and parents, are different. My grandson has had real knives since he was three. He is 14 now and prolly has 75 knives of all kinds. I spent a LOT of time teaching what and HOW to cut when he was three.

same grandson killed his first hog with a knife when he was seven. I had a special scaled down Bowie style built for him. He killed two 80 pound hogs on the first trip.

[Goldeneagle]

This question wouldn’t even have came up just 20/30 years ago, my how times have changed. As a grade schooler, I had my own Case pocket knife, as most of the boys did. This is not a knock on the OP, because times truly have changed.

I have kids of two different generations, some with my first wife, and one with my forever wife. I pretty well raised the first ones very differently than the youngest because there was a big gap between them. The youngest is 24, the others are in their 50s. My point being, I was a good father to all, but spent much more time with the youngest because my situation was different. So....the older ones had to fill in some gaps on their own because in my mind it was just a given that certain things would be learned on their own. Some, but not all, of that was a mistake. Now that I’m a lot older myself I can see that. My oldest son was hunting on his own, with me within a few hundred yards, when he was 12 years old. My youngest never sat by himself until he was probably 16. Part of that was because I was afraid of what he would shoot, part of it was because I just wanted to be with him. I’m not sure that’s good or bad, it just was.

So, OP I think you have it well in hand, you know your kid better than we do, and I’m sure you’re more qualified to make those decisions.

I saved up my coke bottle money and bought a Barlow when I was 7.

[Bryan11]

I like to cook and all 3 of my boys like to "help". Of course cutting stuff up and stirring things intrigue them the most. I would guess that i let most of my boys starting around 3 or 4 help me cut things up by having them stand on a chair or stool at the counter and hold the knife in one hand with my hand guiding it and using my other hand to protect theirs while holding whatever we were cutting. It was a good middle ground start for them. Now my 10 year old helps me bone out deer.

As far as guns, i started showing them and talking to them about guns and safety from a very young age to remove the mystery and let them know they weren't toys. So far so good.

[gandergitter]

My boy is 7 and has a knife on his hip all the time same as me, but he has been cutting vegetables with my kitchen knives since he was 5. Its a kid to kid variance. You know your child better than anyone.

[sierracharlie338]

I tried to prolong it until one day I walk in the kitchen and she is cutting her food with a plastic knife all on her own. I watched and was quite impressed that she did it fairly safely.