S/O At what age would you/did you let your child... use a stove, without supervision?

[luuknam]

And by 'unsupervised', I mean you aren't in the kitchen... it's okay if you're in the basement doing laundry, or upstairs reading a book, and would run into the kitchen if the kid yells "mom/dad, the kitchen is on fire!".

 

ETA: and yes, the 5 or younger is mostly there for silliness, and because I had to start somewhere. We all remember the thread in which someone said she knows someone who thinks all 5yos should be able to change the tires on a car, yes?

 

ETA: and by "using a stove", I mean all the normal actions - lighting it, turning the heat up/down as needed while cooking, turning it off.

Edited January 28, 2016 by luuknam

[HSMWB]

My 8 year old is using it now with the 10 year old. This is not the first time, we have a gas stove you have to light with a lighter as well.

[Arcadia]

My electric stove is the portable single hotplate kind. My kids use it themselves once they are tall enough to look in the small size stock pot. They sometimes use a small frying pan on that. No safety hazards to worry about.

 

My gas burners on the other hand sometimes doesn't ignite at first spark and my DS10 is not as alert nor as sensitive to a gas leak. So DS11 can operate the gas stove at a younger age unsupervised while I need to make sure the gas ignited before walking away for DS10. I also need to switch on the exhaust fan for him because the switch is on my microwave which is too high up for him. DS11 has always been tall for age so he could reach that switch early.

[Raifta]

Only really in the last two months.  DD was 9, almost 10.  DS at 8 is still not allowed to use the electric stove alone, mostly because he doesn't want to, but also because it's hard for him to reach the controls (he has to reach across the stovetop and he's still not that tall).  DD prepared dinner for us all on her own a few weeks back!  It was delightful.

 

I do worry about DD remembering to turn off the stove or elements on the top.  This is partially why although I have let her use it on her own, we are now doing a concentrated cooking dinner together course where the thing I most emphasize is:  before you serve food to anyone - make sure that everything is turned off!

[luuknam]

I will never forget my friend's kids, who made pancakes by themselves at a very young age. We were sitting on her balcony outside one time when her then four year old came in with a load of pancakes with jam I think. He had not only made them himself from scratch, cracking the eggs and everything, he hadn't even asked for permission. That was normal in their house. He had a stool to be able to reach the stove top. It can be done :). Mind you, nearly everyone uses electric stoves here and that was true here as well, so no open flame and no lighting required. 

 

Wow. I must say though, that I started this question mostly with gas stoves in mind (and hence my comment about 5- being largely silliness), and ours is like Arcadia's - how well it lights varies - recently have had to use a lighter a lot. I can see the 5- thing being possible with electric stoves, though it'd probably still be outside of my comfort level.

[Guest]

7.

 

From 4 on with direct supervision at first.

 

ETA-- It's *so* child-dependent.

Edited January 28, 2016 by OKBud

[bettyandbob]

There's no answer. This is purely based your training an individual child and your determination of the child's abilities.

[idnib]

I said 10 since you mentioned possibly being far away doing other things. If I'm nearby, even if I'm not involved, more like 8.

 

But it depends on what they're trying to do. Scrambled eggs or oatmeal is more suitable than fried chicken, for example.

[Daria]

I put 10 because you talked about going to the basement.  I don't actually have a basement, I have a little apartment with a kitchen that's open to the living room, so it's hard to imagine how my choices would have been different. 

 

If the question was when would you let them cook with "light" supervision, by which I mean I'm in the living room, can see him or hear him but only intermittently paying attention, I would have picked a younger age.

[Rachel]

We don't have a gas stove but I let my 8 year old cook on his own and have for about two years. He likes making scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, and no bake cookies. It's definitely something we did together first.

 

My current 6 year old isn't quite ready to cook on her own. If she asked, I would let her try it with me in the room but not next to her first to see how it goes.

[bolt.]

I picked 9, gas stove. I have them call out "I'm lighting it now!" And "Ok, it's lit!" So that I can be sure that that process went well each time.

[fraidycat]

We have lived places with both. DD started cooking scrambled eggs unsupervised around 7 or 8 on electric. Now we have gas and DS started unsupervised at 9.

 

At 13 and 10, I still don't let them cook with gas when I'm not home, but elsewhere in the house is fine. I might start getting DD to do simple cooking without me home around 14. If we had electric she'd probably be doing it already, but she is the type who would not notice that she's setting a towel on fire on the flame, so we wait.

[Donna]

We have a gas stove. Not sure what you mean by unsupervised. If you mean parent home but not in the kitchen…my middle ds had his own omelet pan and cooked omelets at 10yo and dd began baking without me in the kitchen around 9-10yo.

 

If you mean when parents aren't home at all, I think 11-12yo was when my kids started doing that with the gas stove.

 

[SereneHome]

With my oldest - probably soon.  With my DS2 - probably never in my house.  He can practice it somewhere VERY close to a fire station. With my youngest - I don't know yet.  We shall see.

[greenbeanmama]

Oops.  I was thinking "oven" - and for that, I'd say when they can safely reach into the oven while leaning over the door, without making me nervous because it looks too far for them to keep their balance easily.

 

My nine-year-old has cooked a few things on our electric stovetop, but I'm still hesitant to let him do too much without direct supervision.  I had some serious burns from no-bake cookies.  Yup, no-bakes (it's okay to laugh - I see the humor in it now).  They were talking skin grafts in the ER.  So, I'm a little nervous about serious burns, so I probably err on the side of caution.

[Julie Smith]

I think eldest was ten.

 

But our elements sometimes need to be lit with a match. He has never had to do it, but sometimes it wouldn't light with the switch. Even I don't like lighting it with a match.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

My DS6 often makes his own breakfast of eggs or oatmeal. Someone is available if he needs help but he's usually fine. He may have been doing this since he was 5 but I don't remember for sure. I've recently started letting my 9yo and 11yo DDs cook when they're home alone. They made lemon pollsters bread while I was out grocery shopping the other night.

 

We have an electric stove. I may feel differently if we had gas. I've never cooked on gas myself.

[Mom2Five]

Anyone see the Chef Ramsey kid cooking show? Wow, lol. I'm amazed at what those kids can do. My 9 yr old makes cookies and can do things on the stove top but we don't have a gas stove.

[MrsWeasley]

We have an electric stove top and my almost six year old made scrambled eggs while I was in my bedroom today on the other end of the house. I probably wouldn't allow this if open flame was involved, though or we didn't live in such a small house: even from the basement I can hear what's happening in the kitchen.

[mom2bee]

My sister and I began making our own breakfasts on the stove consisting of  things like scrambled eggs, grits, toast, oatmeal, and sausage links when I was 6 years old and we did it without supervision. If I was 6 then my sister was no older than 8. We often cooked in the mornings while my mom was out on a walk (in the neighborhood but not in the house).

[Farrar]

I think it depends a lot. I said 8, but if a kid was actually motivated and in the kitchen and I had observed him safely using it beforehand, then I would go younger.

 

We do have a no cooking rule for when you're alone. Toaster and microwave are now okay, but when they were 7 and 8 yo and I would run a quick errand, those weren't allowed. I still don't allow the stove typically, though it depends and the oven is fine. One kid I feel fine about and not the other. He gets nervous about the gas and thus hasn't had much practice.

[bluemongoose]

 I could not reply to your post because it seems to not like me right now.  I would say it depends on the child. My DD started using our gas stove right before she turned 10. My son is 9 right now and I dont see this happening any time soon. 

[imagine.more]

I'd say by 10 unsupervised but an adult home of course. Our 7 year old just started using the (electric) stove with lots of supervision. I'd probably wait an extra year or two with a gas stove since there's an open flame and it's trickier to light. DD14 uses our stove unsupervised no problem. She likes to make herself eggs for breakfast :) DS7 makes instant oatmeal, heating water in the teapot most mornings and actually come to think of it he's only mildly supervised then (DD and my husband and I are in and out of the kitchen getting ready). But I wouldn't let him have at it making pancakes on a pan or stirring a big pot on the stove unsupervised. And he's an unusually responsible child...DS5 will likely be 8-9 before he does the same thing. But then again he has been making himself toast most mornings for 6+ months now. The first time he did it unsupervised (unplanned, he decided he was hungry at 6am and just started making toast) he grabbed cayenne instead of cinnamon, hahaha! It was some very spicy toast :)

[Scarlett]

I let my almost 16 year old use our electric stove but boy does it make me nervous. He is so all over the place I really worry he will catch the house on fire.

 

My bonus boy is a year younger and I have trusted him for several years. The difference between the two in the kitchen in just unbelievable.

[Scarlett]

I can't vote either.

[gardenmom5]

I do more on the child, but roughly around 8 - 10.  also depends *what* they are making.

My kids reached the age they grabbed a pan, and started cooking something themselves.  I do still have to do some supervision of dudeling, but he does pretty well on his own.

[Reefgazer]

DD and DS were both cooking by age 9 on the stove.  Simple stuff like scrambled eggs, pancakes, spaghetti...but they were fairly independent cooks by then.

[Scarlett]

I was 11 using a gas stove to cook fried potatoes before my mom got home from work. No way I would trust myn15 yo to do that. He really is quite spacey, bless his heart.

[Tsuga]

10. 5th grade. Pleased to see I am in the majority, as I was worried this would be another free range / crazy mom thing. That's for cooking with an adult home but basically allowed to make the decisions alone. Fry eggs, make grilled cheese, warm up soup, or even make spaghetti, whatever.

[maize]

My son started cooking on his own at age 9, I didn't exactly give him permission, just came in the kitchen one day to find scrambled eggs ready for breakfast. I didn't complain!

[Desert Strawberry]

I said 11 for gas and 9 for electric, because that is when Sagg and Aries (respectively) started cooking. 
 

BUT Sagg had no interest in cooking on the stove, and still has little. Aries taught himself to fry an egg without my supervision or knowledge. Gemi is 6 and is right behind him. He probably could do it now, but I'm worried he'll use the wrong utensil and ruin his daddy's skillet  :lol: 
 

Gas is a little scarier because they sometimes don't turn it all the way off. Lighting it, even with a built in starter, is a little bit tricky. We now have a glass topped stove, and I feel WAY more comfortable letting them cook. They can't blow up the house, or make a huge mess, and it doesn't heat very hot or quickly. 

[KrissiK]

My 9 year old dd regularly makes quesedillas or Mac & cheese for lunch on our gas stove.

[SKL]

Very kid dependent.  I chose 7 as a nice round number for "my" kids.  We don't cook together very often and one of my kids is a bit spacey, but around 7 I would let them use the stove briefly with lots of reminders.  Now at young 9 they are more independent, but I still keep my ears open just to make sure nothing seems off.  :P  We have an electric stove.

 

I know someone who was cooking independently without direct supervision at 4yo (electric stove).  But when I say that, generally people think I am making up stories.  :P

 

The question in my mind is, do they have enough sense to make sure nothing flammable is on/near the stove, to turn the burners off when they are done, and to not end up wearing whatever it is they are cooking?  Considering my 9yo is still completely unreliable about flushing the toilet, I would expect her to be on the slow side of the unsupervised cooking curve.  :P

[foxbridgeacademy]

I said 10 but that is for DD who is most definitely more aware of her surroundings than her older brother, for him closer to 12. Luckily I have an electric stove because I'm not sure I'd let them use a gas stove (ah the memories of childhood and how I'm still terrified by them).

[Sarah CB]

I put 6 down, but it might have been 5.  I taught dd how to make scrambled eggs and oatmeal very young.  She used to regularly make banana bread at 5 - from start to finish.  The only part she didn't do herself was take the loaf out of the oven.  We had an electric stove.

[Carrie12345]

I picked 9, electric.

My oldest may have been younger, the next two may have been slightly older.  I'd allow my current 8yo if he had shown an interest earlier and gained some practice, but he's only beginning to want to do more than just mix things.  So is my 5yo, so he may wind up being younger than 9.

[Kathryn]

My oldest is 10. I said 12 for electric. I was probably six or seven, but my boys are so, um, different than I was in the ability to properly pay attention to what they would need to. I'm hoping their sister breaks the pattern they've set. My 10yo is learning to use stove and oven with supervision, but he still needs reminding about certain things.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't know.  My 14 year old I believe since he was about 12.  I do stay within ear shot though.  I also don't allow cooking when I'm not home.  Except with him now I probably would. 

 

The 10 year old, forget it.  He is too nervous still though.  I've been trying to work with him cooking some basic things on the stove, but he is still too scared to burn himself.  With some stuff I guess he is just a bit of a late bloomer.

 

I have a gas stove.

 

 

[bluemongoose]

Skl- I believe you. I could cook at 4 and did it without supervision by 5. In my case it was a bad daycare situation. I was the oldest kid and we wouldn't have eaten if I didn't take matters into my own hands.

[AmandaVT]

We have a gas stove and DS is close to being able to use it himself. My main concern is height. He's tall for his age, but not tall enough to safely drain pasta or potatoes or something similar. 

 

He helps frequently with cooking and baking. He's not tall enough to reach the oven controls yet though and, if standing on a chair, would have to lean over open flames (if he were cooking and needed the oven at the same time, which we frequently do), which isn't safe. 

 

But, he can safely make a quesadilla or grilled cheese with me nearby, so I would imagine by 8, I'd be comfortable letting him do those if I were upstairs or outside. Older/taller for using the oven alone or draining things in boiling water. 

[Tanaqui]

Without me sitting in the kitchen the whole time? 7 or 8, I think. But they were using the stove with supervision before that. It wasn't until the older kiddo was 11 that I allowed her to do so much as heat up soup while I was at the store rather than in the house.

 

The younger kiddo, just last night, decided to push the envelope a little. After everybody was asleep she woke up and decided she wanted potato chips, so she headed into the kitchen to make her own! And she did pretty well, I must say, though I would never ever have allowed her to deep fry anything without supervision if she'd asked! Not at 10, noooooo.

[Carrie12345]

Without me sitting in the kitchen the whole time? 7 or 8, I think. But they were using the stove with supervision before that. It wasn't until the older kiddo was 11 that I allowed her to do so much as heat up soup while I was at the store rather than in the house.

 

The younger kiddo, just last night, decided to push the envelope a little. After everybody was asleep she woke up and decided she wanted potato chips, so she headed into the kitchen to make her own! And she did pretty well, I must say, though I would never ever have allowed her to deep fry anything without supervision if she'd asked! Not at 10, noooooo.

 

Oy! Lol.

 

I still don't let any of my kids cook when there are no adults at home.  I even try to avoid letting them EAT while there are no adults.  (Which makes no sense, b/c I don't think dh knows choking procedures better than our dds do.) For as much as I'm open to letting them explore their abilities and operate independently at young ages, I like to pretend my presence in the general vicinity (even out of ear shot) protects them from any and all harm.   :tongue_smilie: