kids in kitchen, was: SC - Worst feast ever...

[Jenne Heise]

> I've got a million other things to do than baby-sit someone elses kids while
> I'm trying to cook a meal for 150 of my closest friends.  I honestly have
> tried to give things to do to kids under ~16, and with only 1 exception,
> they all vanished as soon as their attention span ran out or one of their
> friends ran through with smething more exciting to do - roughly 10-15
> minutes in either case.

Two points: if the situation at the feast is such that you feel you need
to be 'babysitting' someone else's kids, the tasks to be done may be
beyond their skill level. Or you may run your kitchen in such a way that
people with minimal cooking skills (such as kids) just don't work out,
because they do require more feedback and supervision.

2nd, having kids work in groups or at least pairs is the most successful,
I've found, unless you have a kid who just likes cooking or just likes
hanging with adults.

> Hrmm... I'm more worried about handing a knife to a kid and having them cut
> themselves and then having the parent drag me and my shire into court. :(

Being accident prone myself (It's not a dayboard until Bunny cuts
herself), I guess I don't take much notice, but then I'm dealing mostly
with 12 and up who can be trusted with knives not to cut body parts _off_.
We've had kids cut their fingers: we wash the cut out and send 'em to the
chirgeon. No biggie.

- -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
"I do my job. I refuse to be responsible for other people's managerial 
hallucinations." -- Lady Jemina Starker