Positive "Safety Training"

So, generally during the day, I ignore my children.  Not really, but I do spend a lot of time setting them up in activities so they can play by themselves.  Pulling out activities and toys so that I can get stuff done without them underfoot.  Usually, I'll turn on the TV right after naptime so that I can cook dinner in peace without a child hanging onto my legs.  Yesterday, I was a good mom.  I got Ethan up from his afternoon room/rest time and asked him if he wanted to come help me make meatballs - North African Meatballs, to be specific (soooo good...Dave and I were mildly bickering about who got the leftovers this morning). 

I pulled out the little child-sized apron he got for Christmas from Grandma.


Don't you love how he smiles for the camera now?

I went and got a little plastic chef's knife from his play kitchen and handed him a small piece of onion to "chop".  Surprisingly, with a lot of effort, those fake knives actually do cut stuff.  Ethan's first piece of real life cooking training came when he learned that onions make your eyes water and you shouldn't rub your hands in your eyes after you've touched an onion.  Then he helped me measure spices and herbs and bread crumbs.

When we started dumping things into the frying pan, I was reminded of a concept from that oh-so-crazy parenting book that I blogged about - To Train Up a Child.  Michael Pearl was talking about his so-called "safety training" and he describes this scenario:

We've always had a wood-burning stove for cooking and heating  A red-hot stove can seriously burn toddlers.  I have seen some awful sears on other children.  But we had no fear, knowing the effectiveness of our training.  When the first fires of fall were lit, I would coax the toddlers over to see the fascinating flames.  Of course, they always wanted to touch, so I held them off until the stove got hot enough to inflict pain without deep burning - testing it with my own hand.  When the heat was just right, I would open the door long enough for them to be attracted by the flames and then I would close the door and move away.  The child would inevitably run to the stove and touch it.  Just as his hand touched the stove, I would say, "Hot!" (p.69-70)

I just think that scenario was unnecessary.  He could have taught them not to touch it without tempting them to do it and deceiving them into thinking everything would be fine until the very last second.  I also don't think it's necessary to always teach kids what not to do.  You can teach them what to do instead and keep the environment more positively focused.  So, I taught Ethan how to safely help me cook. 

There was no need to induce him to touch the pan or burner to teach him it was hot.  All I needed to do was tell him it was hot and move his hand to the pan handle to show him where he could touch.  Now, I would never walk away and blithely let him cook away, but I think it was really good for him to learn the correct thing to do.  When he wasn't stirring the pan, he stood on the stool in front of the stove clasping his hands together so that he wouldn't touch what he wasn't supposed to.  I have to say that I'm not so sure my wild child (Noah) would do so well with that lesson.  I think the pan would have landed on the floor if he had been doing this.  Gotta take the kid's personality into account for everything, right?