Helping Kids Cut Their Own Food

"Mom, will you cut my waffle/chicken/pizza/cinnamon roll...?" I hear this question often...and times three kids. I did not want to be cutting other people's food at the expense of my own hot meal for years and years. I had to end this. So at a young age I set out to teach my kids how to cut their own food.

First essential helper were these knives. They're the Dragon Dessert Knives from Ikea. Perfectly sized and weighted for smaller hands. This helped tremendously in teaching my kids. But there was still a big problem...the sliding plate. 

Then I saw these small grippers at the Dollar Tree. They were the perfect answer!

I place one under their plate and it goes nowhere. This works on all my different plates and surfaces: granite, trays, wood.

And now I'm free to eat my own warm treats without first cutting three others. This totally trumps using a pizza cutter to cut multiple waffles at one time. These are also a lifesaver when I serve the kids away from the table preventing their plates from sliding off lap trays.