Cooking with Children: Quality Time that Measures Up

Before you invite your little one into the kitchen, disperse all visions of giggling across the countertop, apron strings tied, and culinary treats nearing completion. Cooking with kids is fun, but also messy and unpredictable - recommended for adventurous adults only.

Creative Mess

What appeals to children, and many adult cooks too, is the sculpting of food. As any chef or culinary artist will tell you, cooking appeals to all of your senses. Kids know this, instinctively, and that is why they are attracted to play kitchens, mud pies, and your pantry.

Pizza dough, fruit salad, bread sticks, rolled cookies, are all fabulous choices for a real hands on cooking session. Children love the feel of dough, pliable in their little hands. Plan an Italian dinner and ask your child to help make the rolls - kneading bread is meditative, therapeutic, messy, and fun.

Foods with shapes and colors make creative cooking firsts for kids. Not only can you explore the nutritional merits of fresh fruit with your kids, but you can appreciate nature's diversity: circles, squares, hard, soft, colorful, and plain.

Hands On - Tool or Toy?

Mimicking adults is a traditional pastime of children. As much as we tell kids not to rush maturity, they continue to imitate grown-ups working and playing. So when you bring your child into the kitchen and freely share your tools with them - spatula, pastry brush, and mixing bowl - they may become grabby and want to dominate any tool use.

If you are a patient parent, and more importantly a patient kitchen helper, then you will not stress over the tools. Let your child use the hand tools to mix the brownies or spray the baking sheet; you will be investing in their confidence and future willingness to work in the kitchen.

Some cooks spend their entire life trying to relate measurement to material. You will be very surprised at how quickly your little one picks up the metrics - cups, teaspoons, ounces. Children love to talk in terms of numbers and quantities so the extension into culinary measurements is natural and rewarding for kids.

Safety Monitor

Of course, with your child in the kitchen you will be on red alert for safety hazards. Don't let your child near the stovetop or hot oven; keep kids away from motorized kitchen tools like blenders, food processors, or power mixers. Scan the countertops for any sharp tools like knives. And finally, be careful if your child is using a stool - make sure it is sturdy and doesn't put him or her above any hot surfaces or moving parts.

Next time you don your apron to prepare yet another weeknight dinner or another batch of classroom brownies, consider inviting your child to help. Working side by side, you might find yourself getting to know another side of your child. And as parents the more we can connect with our children, the deeper our relationship goes, the happier and healthier our children grow.