I watched Gever Tulley’s awesome TED talk recently about letting children play with “dangerous” objects. I really enjoyed it, especially since I am often confronted with gasps and head shakes from other parents when they see my children explore with nails, hammers, wrenches, toothpicks and other scary tools like these. I was once publicly shamed by a mother, who, upon seeing my nine month old Gigi holding a fork at the dinner table, said to her young daughter, “that mommy doesn’t care if her daughter pokes her eye out.” Ha! I’ll never forget that. It seemed so odd to me that she would just assume that Gigi had no idea where her eyes were and that she would just randomly dagger herself in the eyeball. I know everyone has their own comfort level and every child is different, so let me say upfront, you have decide what is safe for you and your child. I trusted Gigi implicitly with that fork. I knew she wasn’t going to dagger herself. That would have been extremely out of character for her. Gigi is a little over two now. My “carelessness” would first horrify that mom if she saw us in action these days. We have moved way beyond forks. Gigi can use a butter knife, a peeler, a hammer, a power drill (with her dad) and a scissor, her new fav. I want my kids to investigate with these tools and learn and figure things out with them. I believe giving them tools is an essential step towards building critical thinkers and actively curious little beings.
Gigi spent 20-30 minutes hammering golf tees into a crack she found in the playhouse. She didn’t even mind when I went inside for a minute and she was outside by herself. Yes, by herself with a hammer! I came out and she had two golf tees in the crack and was proud as could be. My girl, the builder. I hope D follows in her footsteps too. So far, she loves to sit and put sticks into holes, or markers into caps. Her hand/eye coordination blows me away and I will continue to nurture this ability as much as I can. I remember several months ago we bought an old school extra extra large Tinker Toy set at the Rose Bowl. It was so awesome. Gigi and Ev built a whole world in the backyard for hours. I’ve never seen Gigi so engaged. Both my girls love the tool set from Ikea. It is played with constantly because it feels real to them and the tools actually work. Kids love to work with their hands and create things that are real and important to them. They’re not going to dagger out their eyeballs. They’re going to build!
I find it quite rude that the woman had to express herself so obvious towards you. It is not her business that you allow your kids to handle and hold a fork, under your own supervision. I find it necessary to teach kids how to manage essentials.
It was kind of rude but I’m sure it came from a good place and looking back on it now it just seems kind of funny : )
On my website you can see I work with children and they use all the tools. Only when using something electric, I stay close. I think it is important to make sure they feel confident about tools. If they practice they get better at using the tools. And it is wonderful to see the look on there faces when they make something themselves.
I love this discussion! My father allowed us all to use real tools- with supervision, but of course, there was still risk! By the time I left for college, I could change a tire and change the oil of the car, I had used drills, saws and paintbrushes dozens of times. The one that still gives me the chills a little, is that my dad allowed all three of us to help him replace the roof- and I must have been no older than 13 clambering around the roof with him. I know he felt a tremendous responsibility to keep us safe, but also to teach us skills. Interestingly, I feel as if my confidence is much higher with all things as a result. I am so grateful for what my dad did for me, so I am allowing my boys to use real tools, although I have to override my own fears of them getting hurt, at times.
I think its wonderful Kids love to explore and imitate adults if we teach them how to use things properly they are safer then a child who had to wait till they are older but never taught. All 4 of my boys where given real tools by 2 they are all adults now and all still have all their limbs and fingers no one has lost and eye or even injured themselves except the occasional smashed finger even adults have that. They had hammers screwdrivers, even a hand drill and hand saw I figured if they drilled through their leg or cut it off they have worked hard for it