On the cooking with Jack show, he recently did a test of the new model of the easy bake oven:
He talks as if giving an easy bake oven (or real cooking equipment, I will say a bit more on that a bit later on) is only an appropriate gift for a girl, which is weird since both he and his son cook.
There is a picture on the box of a boy and a girl using the oven to make cookies and Jack says something like "It has a picture of a boy assisting a girl make some cookies, smart guy." Well, how does he know that that, the girl could be the one that is assisting.
I also think that the phrase "...smart guy" could be taken 2 ways. The
1st is that cooking is a practical skill that men as well as women should learn. The other is that learning how to cook is a way to "get girls."
I said I would comment on getting an Easy Bake Oven (or other cooking toys). I personally would not get "cooking toys" as a present for a child, rather, I would get real cooking gear such as measuring spoons, measuring cups, whisk, baking trays, etc.
I would even include a knife (though perhaps a smaller one for smaller hands), but only with the parents permission, and only if the child made a commitment that he or she would only use it under parental supervision.
Much like if I were to get a child a sewing machine, it might be a smaller one for smaller hands, but it would be a real one, and not a "toy" one. I learned to sew on a regular size machine, but I did not show an interest until I was in my teens, if I recall correctly, and my hands were about as big as they are now, so I did not need a smaller machine.
As a PS, the other day I was talking to my sister, and the fact that I have a 2nd generation Kindle Fire, and that she has the latest generation (6th or 7th, I think).
She just loves it. I asked her about the "Alexa" program, and she said it does not really come into play unless you are shopping. She also said although it is designed to take you to Amazon as a sort of default when shopping, it is not difficult at all to shop at other sites such as Barnes and Noble, Walmart.com, Ebay, whatever. Just wanted to point out that her experience with the newer Kindle is very positive, or at least that is how she relayed it to me.
Brian Christiansen