cooking? My son is 16 months old, and since he was about 12 months old he loves to watch us cook, so we just sit him up on the counter so he can watch us cook. In the beginning we always made sure that he was within arms reach in case he tried to get down, and we were always super careful about making sure he couldn't reach knives or the stove. Now that he's been doing it for a while we're a lot more relaxed about it. We'll leave him on one counter to walk the three feet away to get something out of the fridge if we need it. We occasionally let him sit right next to the stove so he can help stir with a long handled spoon. He knows that he has to sit far back on the counter and that if he tries to get up or crawl or anything then he has to get down immediately and he loses his privileges to sit up there. He understands what hot means, and he won't touch anything hot if we tell him not to, and he understands that everything on the stove is hot whether or not we say it.
I've had my doubts about this in the past, but he hasn't ever gotten hurt, and it seems that the longer we let him do it, the older he is, and the less likely he is to get hurt. I mean, I know that one of these days he could fall off the counter and get hurt, but we always keep a really close eye on him. And eventually he'll be old enough to climb up and down on his own with a step stool.
I don't know, what do you think?
I've had my doubts about this in the past, but he hasn't ever gotten hurt, and it seems that the longer we let him do it, the older he is, and the less likely he is to get hurt. I mean, I know that one of these days he could fall off the counter and get hurt, but we always keep a really close eye on him. And eventually he'll be old enough to climb up and down on his own with a step stool.
I don't know, what do you think?