My middle guy watched a movie with a chef cutting onions in a class at school today. So, as I pulled out the onion when we were cooking at dinner time he got excited about what he had thought he had learned and wanted to demonstrate his new skills. I was completely amazed at how his mind was working; he watched a movie and now he was a master onion cutting chef and completely believing it. I reluctantly handed over the knife with a few words of safety advice so that he could begin his demonstration. He looked at the onion, which was whole, and then back at the knife. My immediate thought; uh-oh... First, he thought he would put the onion on its pointed end and cut it vertically; I quickly corrected and like any mother my neck tightened up as I cringed with the potential hazard this stance was posing. Then he put his fingers in the wrong place as he tried to cut the onion horizontally, but not in a safe way. So, I interjected and corrected again. So, when he started to take his cutting position for his third attempt I found myself so nervous that I took the "three strikes and you are out approach," nicely confiscated the knife, showed him how to cut the onion in half while cooking at home vs. the cartoon setting, how to peel the onion skin and then once I had created several slices and knew we were in a much more age appropriate, self-sufficient setting, let him dice the onions for me. In the end he learned a valuable lesson and still felt accomplished and proud of his onion chopping and I now feel relieved with all of my son’s fingers intact. Tonight was another reminder why cooking with your kids is so important. All of these little moments add up with big lessons at the end sometimes...Wednesday, October 21, 2009
OH BOY...hold on a minute!
My middle guy watched a movie with a chef cutting onions in a class at school today. So, as I pulled out the onion when we were cooking at dinner time he got excited about what he had thought he had learned and wanted to demonstrate his new skills. I was completely amazed at how his mind was working; he watched a movie and now he was a master onion cutting chef and completely believing it. I reluctantly handed over the knife with a few words of safety advice so that he could begin his demonstration. He looked at the onion, which was whole, and then back at the knife. My immediate thought; uh-oh... First, he thought he would put the onion on its pointed end and cut it vertically; I quickly corrected and like any mother my neck tightened up as I cringed with the potential hazard this stance was posing. Then he put his fingers in the wrong place as he tried to cut the onion horizontally, but not in a safe way. So, I interjected and corrected again. So, when he started to take his cutting position for his third attempt I found myself so nervous that I took the "three strikes and you are out approach," nicely confiscated the knife, showed him how to cut the onion in half while cooking at home vs. the cartoon setting, how to peel the onion skin and then once I had created several slices and knew we were in a much more age appropriate, self-sufficient setting, let him dice the onions for me. In the end he learned a valuable lesson and still felt accomplished and proud of his onion chopping and I now feel relieved with all of my son’s fingers intact. Tonight was another reminder why cooking with your kids is so important. All of these little moments add up with big lessons at the end sometimes...
