At age 11, my son Benj has now informed me that he is a 'guy' and all guys can handle a carving knife. Here's his masterpiece.

I bought the proper pumpkin carving tools, he picked out the pumpkin....and then the poor kid had to deal with me standing over him spewing a non-stop mantra of 'be careful', 'don't cut yourself', 'you need those fingers to play your instruments'...etc. etc. I am such a fun mom!

Then, when it really started getting messy, I sat myself on the ground and held the pumpkin so in case the knife slipped it would be my hand on the line and not his.

The worry never ends with these kids...who, by the way, do NOT consider themselves 'kids' anymore.

Do you let your middle schoolers carve their own pumpkins?

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