at what age is it ok to let your dc clip their own nails?

[dorothy]

my dd 10 wants to and is responsible, but I am afraid she might hurt herself. thanks.

[Scarlett]

My almost 8 year old wants to do his own too. I don't worry that he will hurt himself....he just doesn't do the job to suit me. :p

[Tracey in TX]

My 10y/o DD cuts her own nails, and has for over a year. 11y/o DS and the younger sibs all have me cut theirs. Who knows, I might be cutting DS' toenails in college (ewww...)

[Old Dominion Heather]

My eight year old does his own. Sooner or later, I am sure he will hurt himself. He wants to do it though. He has a pocket knife though, so I figure the clippers are safer than that!

[Sanguine]

Hmm. My kids are 9 and 11. They've been clipping their own nails for years (as soon as they could properly hold and use the nail clippers). I've never even considered this as a dangerous activity. Neither one has ever injured themselves.

[Mrs Mungo]

I think 10 is well old enough to clip your own nails. Any slight injury will teach the child to be more careful next time.

[WTMindy]

Hmm. My kids are 9 and 11. They've been clipping their own nails for years (as soon as they could properly hold and use the nail clippers). I've never even considered this as a dangerous activity. Neither one has ever injured themselves.

Ditto this! I handed them the clippers as soon as they could squeeze them together!! It never occured to me not to.:o

[Jean in Newcastle]

Ds10 has been clipping his fingernails for over a year. I inspect and occasionally smooth out a rough spot. I clip his toe-nails for now because they are tougher.

Dd6 lets me clip them. But she is starting to file them after. Soon I will introduce her to clipping a few of them.

[KristineIN]

My dd is 10 and also clips her own nails.

Kristine

[Elinor Everywhere]

Hmm. My kids are 9 and 11. They've been clipping their own nails for years (as soon as they could properly hold and use the nail clippers). I've never even considered this as a dangerous activity. Neither one has ever injured themselves.

I'm not sure when my 10yos started, but it's been several years. How injured could they get with small-sized nail clippers? If they were to nip their finger, they'd learn to be more careful next time.

On the other hand, my son decided his eyebrows were too bushy the other day (they are very light brown and NOT bushy at all), and used nail trimmers to thin them out. Unsurprisingly, he has a hole in one eyebrow with no hair...:rolleyes:

[~Puddins~]

My oldest is 6 and I have to confess that he's been doing it for a few months now...I never really thought about him hurting himself..he does a good job!

[Janet in WA]

my dd 10 wants to and is responsible, but I am afraid she might hurt herself. thanks.As soon as they want to. I can't imagine not allowing a 10 year old to clip her own nails.

[Jackie in AR]

Hmm. My kids are 9 and 11. They've been clipping their own nails for years (as soon as they could properly hold and use the nail clippers). I've never even considered this as a dangerous activity. Neither one has ever injured themselves.

My 6yo has been clipping her own nails for at least a year now. She has 3 older siblings and thinks she can do whatever they do. :D I didn't realize at first that she was doing it; one day I remembered that I hadn't clipped her nails in a while and noticed that they were already trimmed. She has the neatest-looking nails in the house because if they show the slightest growth out come the clippers!

[EKS]

My 6 yo started doing it when he was 5. I didn't quite realize he was doing it until one day I realized that I hadn't had to cut his nails in a really long time.

Seriously, what kind of major damage could she do?

[Suzanne in ABQ]

My dc are 10 and 11, and I don't even remember the last time I clipped their nails. Must have been years ago. No harm done.

My 2 1/2 yodd tries, and I let her. I really can't imagine any major damage being done with nail clippers. By the time she's strong enough to actually squeeze them, she'll have had lots of practice controlling them. And, squeezing them si good exercise for fine motor control. It's educational! :)

[Elisabeth in IL]

My 8 yods and 10 yods both clip their nails. My 10 yo is better at it then his younger brother. Luckily for the 8 yo his nails grow very slowly.

[Josie]

Ours started clipping their own nails at 6 or so. I am not saying the look all that great, but they are clipped. I will still clip the younger one sometimes, but the older is on her own. If you use the clippers I wouldn't think you could get too hurt.

[Volty]

I wish I could say this is an idiotproof activity, but unfortunaly I was pretty inept as a kid and had ingrown toenails (and bloody socks) on the big toes of both feet. Make sure they let the nail grow out and don't cut the toenails as often as the fingernails.

[ballzy]

I spent 4 months there when I was 22, and when my nailclipper broke, I had no choice but to let my host mom cut my fingernails for me with a razor blade. I couldn't watch, I was so scared, but then I was thinking that she did this all the time with her own nails and her children's nails, so what was I afraid of? Eventually, I learned to cut my own nails with a razor blade

This post brought back fond memories for me, LOL.

Colleen

[Karen in CO]

What nobody told me that!

Seriously. I have no idea when my oldest started clipping his. He just quit asking me to do it, and I quit noticing that it needed to be done. When they are ready to try, let them. I figure they can't do worse than I have - you can really draw blood with those things. If they pinch their fingers, they will learn that it hurts and to be more careful. It is a case of self-correcting behavior.

[GreenKitty]

I let them clip their own nails when they are able to squeese the clipper. Maybe 9??