CLEVELAND – Holiday feasts and cookie making with the kids are part of many family traditions for celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwaanza. Parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles are keen to pass along their holiday traditions and children are eager to lend a hand with the holiday preparations, but University Hospitals’ Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital experts wants parents to remember it is important to practice some basic rules for keeping children safe in and around the kitchen.
Children in the kitchen need close adult supervision at all times, whether they are helping to cook or just watching. “Simply being in the same room as a child is not necessarily supervising,” notes Walter Chwals, MD, Director of Rainbow’s Level I Pediatric Trauma Center. “An actively supervised child is in sight and in reach at all times.”
Consider this: because young children have thinner skin than adults, they burn more severely and at lower temperatures. Scald burns from hot liquid or steam are the most common type of burns among children ages 4 and under and a child can suffer a full-thickness burn (third-degree burn) after just three seconds of exposure to 140-degree water, requiring surgery and skin grafts. Active adult supervision is necessary to protect children in the kitchen from spills, steam, hot surfaces and flames, in addition to a host of other injury mechanisms in the average kitchen that many adults may take for granted.
Children want to pitch in and help out around the kitchen during the holidays, and letting them be part of the preparations is a great way to give kids a sense of tradition and belonging, but parents need to be sure to give children age-appropriate tasks.
“Since each child is different, it is important for parents and caregivers to consider the developmental level and abilities of their children when it comes to assigning kitchen duties,” notes Kathryn Wesolowski, Manager of the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital Injury Prevention Center.
Generally, children under age 10 should not handle the stove, electrical appliances, sharp utensils or hot dishes. Younger children can begin helping in the kitchen with basics like washing vegetables and fruits or other tasks that do not require sharp knives, appliances, or heat.
“You can help make younger kids feel like they’re part of the action by letting them get out ingredients, help measure and pour, and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes in dough,” advises Wesolowski, “but wait until they’re between 9 and 12 years of age before letting children open cans, use electrical appliances, or use a grater to shred cheese and vegetables.”
Follow these general tips for kitchen safety at the holidays and all year long to protect your youngest family members:
- • Never leave a hot stove unattended. Unattended food on the stove is the leading cause of home fires.
- • Never hold a child while cooking or carrying hot items.
- • Cook on back burners whenever possible and turn all handles toward the back of the stove.
- • Don’t allow loose-fitting clothing in the kitchen.
- • Keep hot foods and liquids away from the edges of counters and tables. Be especially careful around tablecloths—children can pull hot dishes down onto themselves.