Cooking with Your Kids

Cooking is not only an essential part of living, but it is a great educational tool for parents. Cooking is something that most of us do each and everyday. Our children watch us prepare meals and gobble them down without fully appreciating what all goes into creating it all.

I am a huge advocate for cooking with kids. Though it may be a little nerve-racking there are huge benefits for both you and your child. Here are a few helpful tips to help you get started.

Pick something relatively easy.
It may seem like an overstatement, but you'll understand why I suggested it if you start trying to create a gourmet meal with your child. Stick to something that has only a few simple ingredients.

Pick something your child loves.
Chances are if your child loves spaghetti she will have more fun learning how you make it and helping you. Children develop a sense of pride from creating something, especially when it is something they really enjoy eating!

Lay everything out.
Pull out all of the pots, pans, mixing bowls, measuring spoons and cups that you will need for the preparation process. You should also pull out all of the ingredients and lay them out. One thing I found is that with younger children it is much easier if you work ahead by measuring out all of the ingredients that you are going to need. I use small spice bowls to dump pre-measured ingredients in and group them together if they are to be mixed together. This works particularly well if your child is not old enough to measure ingredients by themselves yet. My daughter loves taking the little bowls of ingredients and dumping them together into a mixing bowl.

Identify everything.
Another thing I like to do when I cook or bake with my own daughter is to measure items out and put their box or container right behind the ingredient. This helps my daughter identify the packaging. (AKA "Oh, that's what the sugar package looks like.") This is a very easy way to create a visual aid for your children.

Really let your child help.
I know it is difficult to relinquish control in your own kitchen, but try to remember that it will boost your child's confidence if you let them have sole control over certain aspects of the meal preparation. It took me awhile to master this aspect. I was always worried about my daughter sloshing cake mix all over the counter-top when she was mixing and silly things like that. When I finally decided to just let it be, cooking with her became a much more enjoyable thing. Who cares if we make a mess? We can clean it can't we?! If your child wants to stir, let her stir!

Explain as you go.
Talk to your child while you work together. Explain why you have to separate the egg whites from the yolk, elaborate on why you have to preheat the oven and at what temperature. Your child may not remember all these little fun facts later but they will definitely feel important and that they are part of what you are doing.

Be prepared for disaster!
Go ahead and just be prepared for the mixing bowl to come crashing to the floor during your child's vigorous attempt to blend the cookie ingredients. Prepare yourself for the wrong things to be mixed together too. Chances are it's going to happen! Having the best attitude possible will help you laugh it off and keep your child's confidence intact. Children easily feel defeated or like failures if they 'mess things up', so your attitude will mean everything. Make sure you have extra ingredients on hand to replace any that get ruined, dropped or mis-mixed. Don't yell, just say, "Oh that's ok! Look! I have some more, we can start over!"

Taste test everything.
What fun is cooking if you can't taste it before everyone else? Make a big, fun deal out of this part. It is vital that you encourage your child by talking about how yummy their creation is! This instills pride in a job well done. Besides, it's fun!

Relish in your accomplishment.
Don't forget to dote on your child once it's all said and done. Children need to hear that they did a good job or that you couldn't have done it without them. It is quite likely that your child will wish to be included in future cooking adventures so I implore you to be open to that. You are, after all, your child's first teacher. Use your kitchen to bond with your child and enjoy the fruits of your labor together.