There is just something about the allure of chopsticks for me. I think working with the International Programs department as an undergrad cemented it. I literally got paid to hang out with Japanese students. It was awesome. I’d take them on road trips to Dallas or just hang out in the campus dining hall and eat with them. [On a side note: they taught me important Japanese cafeteria words, like “mazui”: tastes bad.]

I still can’t even eat chinese takeout without chopsticks… It just tastes better that way, right?? And thanks to my Japanese friends, I even learned how to eat rice with chopsticks. [Yes, my useless talents practically know no bounds.]

But for my kiddos, the chopsticks thing is a toughie. My boys love eating with them, but they just haven’t gotten the hang of them yet. Well, good news: there is an easy way you can make any pair of chopsticks into a kid-friendly pair!

Just grab a strip of paper (about 2-3 times wider than the tip of a chopstick and a few inches long).

Fold the paper over and until it looks something like this. Grab a rubber band.

Then hold the folded paper scrap between the ends of the chopsticks

And warp the rubber band around one of the paper edges sticking out, then twist and over the other side sticking out, then over the ends of the two chopsticks. Repeat until you run out of rubber band. This will hold the chopsticks apart (without them slipping apart) but still allow you to pinch them together (to grab food).

And voila! [Or should I say 出来上がり?] One kid-friendly pair of chopsticks!

So, any handy tips you use to make something work for your little people? Do tell!