When were you first allowed to use dangerous kitchen tools?

Question

Here in Wales, we've just discovered fire, and it's a big step up from gnawing on raw meat. The new fangled metal knives are much better than our old flint stone ones too. A recent news article tells how children were given sharp knives and fire to play with and the survivors learned a lot from it.

Now most of us would have helped mother in hje the kitchen as a child, perhaps stirring with a wooden spoon or churning the cream into butter. But can you remember the first time you were allowed to use the dangerous kitchen appliances and tools?

When were you first allowed to use dangerous kitchen tools?

Jersey2 · Accepted Answer

I remember in early elementary school being shown and told how to walk with scissors and how to hand them to someone. From there it evolved into knives as it is the same set of safety best practices. I don’t know the exact timeframe.

I do remember being 12 at a summer camp for 6 weeks in the mountains in a tent playing mumbley-peg. We had several hundred boys up there. The game uses pocket knives which I had by that time.

You spread your feet shoulder wide and your friend throws his knife between them. You have to move your closest foot to the knife stuck in the ground. Then your turn and so on until feet are so close together that someone yields or someone hits your foot. If they yield you win. If they are stubborn and get hit in the foot, they win. We were very, very good with those knives and could split an inch of space remaining. This is not what the Sisters at my elementary school had in mind when they taught us how to handle knives.

Lliam · Accepted Answer

OMG, that opening paragraph is brilliant. You crack me up, Poppy.

I see from the photo that they have also adopted modern clothing. Are there still people in the hinterlands who run around semi-naked or wear home-spun woolen cloaks and sheep skin?

I don't recall ever helping in the kitchen, aside from making cookies. I do remember using the electric egg beater.

When I was quite young, our family used to go camping in the mountains for a week during the summer. My dad gave me the knife he carried during WWII. At the time, it seemed as big as a sword. I put it on my belt and went off exploring the woods.

An when I was maybe 6 or 7, my grandfather gave me a pocket knife.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Ooh, excellent question. I don't know exactly, but i grew up on a ranch and learned to respect rather than fear dangerous things from an early age. Despite being a girl, being an only child I was essentially my dad's son... I learned to shoot at 3 and shot my first deer at 6.

I know I not only was around and using knives by this age because I had my own skinning knife (which i skinned aforementioned deer with after daddy hung it up in the barn). I still remember the warmth of the blood on my hands that cold November day, and the pride in my father and grandfather's eyes that it didn't freak me out.

I also remember having a hand saw so I could "work" in the shop with daddy (he was a carpenter) when I was 3 or 4, so I'm sure I was around dangerous things in the kitchen too

alice55 · Accepted Answer

The first time I was allowed to touch whatever was in the kitchen was when I was 21 other than that I wasn't allowed in because the kitchen was too cold (no heater and it was getting as low as 5 degree Celsius into our kitchen).

And I also wasn't allowed because my father didn't trust me to do anything with knife or just anything at all except making him a coffee.

PBandJ_Nerd · Answer

Depends on what you consider to be dangerous.

Bricealan · Answer

@purplepoppy I was allowed to use a can opener after I got out of prison for chopping up my birth parents with a meat cleaver

You have fire in Wales? Damn how did that happen? We are one up on you here in the States, in particular in California. Some guy invented what they call a "wheel", and it makes getting the moose carcass into the house.

IslaTheWitch · Answer

when I was a kid, there were no "dangerous kitchen tools"... we were expected to learn and help parents on the go :D

matchrestore · Answer

I honestly don't remember, but I do know that my wife and I are slowly starting to let our first grader use certain kitchen tools, like can openers/some knives under supervision, and some, like the toaster or microwave, without supervision.

AviatorTom · Answer

I was probably around 8 yo when my parents stopped cutting my meat for me, and I was able to use a sharp knife to do it.

goaded · Answer

Pre-teens, I expect. I was a cub scout, and we used to have campfires at home.

Wiredone · Answer

I don't remember how old I was when I got to use steakknives

Iron_Man · Answer

I never was only when I was old enough an adult

Shiprex · Answer

IN the 1970s. When I was a kid I was "allowed" to use a knife and cut sandwiches to take for lunch.

Nikki1989 · Answer

I started cooking my meals at the age of 8, so it has been a while.

nolabels · Answer

I've been chopping vegetables since my earliest memories can recall.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

Grandma considered anything in my hands to be dangerous. So I used her equipment... unauthorized.

Anonymous · Answer

Dear God. I can only imagine what sort of mass killing this enabled.

NathanDavis · Answer

four years old... during the Holidays

WhitneySnow · Answer

I think I was like fourteen

exitseven · Answer

I have not been allowed to use them yet.

Sonora · Answer

I honestly don't remember.

dreamstar72 · Answer

About seven.

RedInnocent69 · Answer

Knives? Probably 7.

eagle1951 · Answer

i8 was 10

When were you first allowed to use dangerous kitchen tools?

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

When were you first allowed to use dangerous kitchen tools?

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

We're glad to see you liked this post.