Submitted by Catherine Newman on Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Ben's 8-year-old sister has been eager to get in on the action. And all I can say is: if you are ever really wondering how to get your kid to be a more adventurous eater? Teach them to cook. It's really that simple. Birdy cut up the zukes and herbs that ended up in our dinner--this pasta--and she was more or less ecstatic about it. "That is the yummiest, yummiest thing," she said, flushed with pride, like, a million times. If you have not enlisted your children yet in the preparation of a meal, please do try it. At first it's terrible--it will take five extra months to make a single dinner, and by the time your kid is done spilling flour everywhere and grating a carrot, there will be cobwebs draped over your comatose eyelids. But it will be worth it--in the long run, sure, because then they'll know how to cook. But in the short run too, because they'll eat it, whatever it is they've made. Trust me.

So today, Ben and I set about teaching Birdy some basic cutting skills. Starting with the easy, little-kid stuff that she already knows, but that I'm reviewing here in case you need a little inspiration. For example:

A pizza cutter makes a perfectly excellent cutting tool for soft things that aren't too big: bananas, for example. Or tofu. Or cheese that's already sliced. Fun, easy, and you'd really have to go way out of your way to cut yourself.

Also:

scissors are great for cutting up herbs. Here Birdy's snipping dill with kitchen shears, but a clean pair of kid scissors is perfectly fine too. Scissors are good for cutting other flat things, such as quesadillas and even pizza.

Do you have an apple corer/slicer? They take some serious muscle, but are trememdously satisfying. One giant shove, and you've got a snack to eat and share. Birdy was thrilled by her success with it.

Next up, ye olde egg slicer. Now, you can certainly live without an egg slicer--it's not like eggs are an especially Herculean slicing task. But egg slicers are SO MUCH FUN. And they can often cut other stuff too--like mushrooms or strawberries. (Note that you can get a snazzy new egg slicer these-a-days, not like the crazy antique from the Pleistocene Era shown here--although it is my own actual childhood egg slicer, and so fills me with a fond feeling.)

Voila!

Sprinkle it with a bit of salt, and a bit of that dill you snipped. . .

And you've got a perfect snack.

Another fun and extremely safe way to cut is with a ridged cutter like this, one with a handle. Both kids used to cut up their own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with this when they were little. Today, Birdy sliced up some lovely, crinkle-cut zukes for me.

But what she really wanted to practice was cutting with real, sharp knives. I am actually in favor of teaching children how to use knives in a safe, responsible way, so long as you give them (and yourself) some guidlines about it.

• One hand will be on the knife, and the other hand will be holding whatever you're cutting steady. Your fingers should be curled under, away from the knife, and you should pay attention to where the knife is: as it moves forward, the food-holding fingers should move backwards.
• It sounds counter-intuitive, but it's actually safer to cut with a sharp knife than a dull one, as you'll need much less pressure to do it.
• Keep your eyes on your cutting at all times. If you need to look up (so that, for example, you can shout, "Look at me cutting with a sharp knife!") you just need to put your knife down first--no big deal, since then you can pick it up again.
• Take your time. I'm actually a huge fan of sitting down for kitchen prep work--both for myself (because I'm lazy) and for my kids, because it signals to them that they've got all the time in the world. Also, that way it's impossible to drop a knife on your toe. Relatedly, it's a pretty good idea to wear shoes while you're using sharp knives.

This little paring knife is extremely sharp, and Birdy was hesitant at first about using it.

But she did great. Look at that concentration! "I feel so grown up," she said. Next up was our large chef's knife. I explained to Birdy that round or cylindrical things (zukes, carros, potatoes, etc.) are much easier and safer to cut if you slice them in half first, so that they can rest stably on a flat surface.

Okay!

When I asked her if she had anything to add, here's what she said: "Don't be scared of the knife. You're in control of it. So long as you stay in control, and watch what you're doing, you'll be fine." Amen.