how to hold a knife

Keeping Kids Safe Around Kitchen Knives

Knives are rated to be among the most common kitchen hazards, with more than 3.4 million children experiencing an unintentional household injury every year. It’s important to discuss and practice proper kitchen safety with your children, especially if you’re a fan of high-quality kitchen knives. Learning how to care for and use your knives and other kitchen utensils are only parts of being a great cook. Properly and securely storing them away so that they are out of reach of small hands, is one of the most important aspects of running a safe, efficient home kitchen.

Teach Your Children About Knives

Like guns, one of the biggest safety techniques applies for knives when it comes to children. Teach them about knives and let them ask questions in order to address any curiosity early on. If you want to, you can invest in a small kid-friendly knife set to allow them to participate in cooking and cutting with you. This will get them comfortable handling a knife, while also allowing them to learn practical life and culinary skills. If you’re going to do this, you’ll want to also teach them how to properly hold a knife, where to grip the handle and how much pressure to use, as well as the right cutting techniques to avoid injury. It should go without saying that you should never let your children use knives when unattended; but with an adult present, you should feel free to let them engage in a learning process that helps them cultivate confidence and life skills.

Practice Regular Knife Safety

Engaging in the proper handling of knives in the kitchen will not only set a good example for your children to learn how to handle the utensils, but it will also ensure your whole kitchen is safe for anybody who enters it. You’ll want to start by never keeping kitchen knives in a disorganized and regular drawer where blades are exposed which can cut somebody reaching into it.

Knife safety edge guard

If your knife edges are not covered in a kitchen drawer please consider using Universal Edge Guards to properly cover the sharp edge for better knife safety. It’s a good idea to also keep a cork on the sharp tip as long as children are around or store them in a knife block that is up and out of their reach. And, as counter-intuitive as it might sound, you’ll want to always keep your knives sharp by using a sharpening tool and cleaning them regularly. If using a wet stone is too challenging for you try a spring loaded pull through sharpener to get a quick sharp edge. Dull knives require a greater force to cut something which often results in slips and cuts, especially when handled by children. Any chef will tell you, a sharp knife is a safer knife! If your knives have not been professionally sharpened in a few years, it’s most likely time to bring them to a qualified knife sharpener.  If you’ve invested in an ergonomic knife set specifically designed for the small hands of children, however, they should be fine.

Creating a Safe Kitchen Environment

A well-sharpened, high-quality knife set can turn a regular kitchen into a stellar, and knife safe one. This allows you to craft up delectable treats for your whole family, that you might not otherwise be able to cook. To ensure that your kitchen stays a stellar one, with proper knife safety,  you’ll want to always put safety first. Begin by teaching your children about the various different aspects of a kitchen and the utensils you use. Allow them to learn along with you as you cook. Never allow children to use knives or other dangerous kitchen appliances without adult supervision. Act as a positive role model with the way you handle yourself. Before you know it, you might have the next child Master Chef on your hands and at the least one who knows proper knife safety.

Author: Karoline Gore

Find out about other popular kitchen products and reviews with the Cooking Detective.

HELPFUL VIDEO LINKS

How to properly Hold a Chef knife for safer use

How to quickly sharpen your knives

Proper technique for cutting carrots & vegetables

How to Choose the Right knife – Complete Guide to Kitchen Knives

MAKE YOUR HOME A SAFE PLACE

A safe kitchen is important but so is your home. A big investment that we must protect.  If you agree, check out this article on making your home safer with 6 burglar proofing tips from safety.com.

2021 UPDATE: Now more than ever, feelings of safety and security are crucial to surviving the uncertainty of COVID. Unfortunately, with an unstable job market and struggling businesses, many of us do not have the financial resources to pay for expensive security systems to feel safe.

To support peace of mind in these difficult times, our team created a guide “How to secure your home on a budget” for inexpensive and free ways to boost your home’s safety during the pandemic:

https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/homeowners-insurance/home-security-on-budget/

Our guide includes:

  • 15 free and/or cheap ways to make your home more secure
  • Cost friendly home security systems
  • Apps you can use to secure your home from wherever you are

ERGO CHEF ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ergo Chef is introducing some amazing new kitchen products at the International Home and Housewares Show –  March 2nd- 5th at the Chicago McCormick Place.

One of the most exciting launches is our new Chef Guy Fieri Knuckle Sandwich Knives that are crafted from Japanese AUS8 Steel and come with a quality KYDEX sheath for safe storage. We designed this bold new look with the king of Flavortown and the premium materials deliver world class performance, with a look that says game on. Get yours today!

We have also added a new  Crimson G10 7″ Santoku knife, as it’s one of the most popular sizes on the market for a kitchen knife and often viewed as safer to use by some due to a rounded tip (No Point) on the front of blade.

For the outdoor grillmaster we have created a tool to make prepping your ribs easy and safe. The Myron Mixon BBQ Rib Skinner. Easily removes unwanted membrane so you can flavor your ribs for award winning taste.

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