31 Days of Homemaking Day 23
Let the kids help in the kitchen,
Do you want to have your kids helps in the kitchen but find your patience runs thin when you do? Does the mess keep you from letting your kids help with cooking? I will be the first one to admit my patience with my kids helping in the kitchen is really short. I don’t like the extra mess or time it takes to let them help. But with that being said I still do let them help in the kitchen. Because cooking is such an important skill for kids to learn.
By letting my kids help in the kitchen they learn not only to cook but they learn other valuable skills. Such as learning to read a recipe, learning about fractions and being accurate just to name a few. I know when my kids help we have more of a mess to clean up. It takes more time for them to help but it is so worth it.
Just a few days ago my son and daughter helped me make up some of our pantry cookie mixes. This is the mess we had on the kitchen table after we were done. But this is the picture my son begged me to take.
He was so proud to have helped make the pantry mixes that he wanted me to take a picture of him with them.
So I need to remember not to short change my kids in helping with making things in the kitchen. By allowing them to learn by trial and error they can grown in the knowledge of how to cook. It is such an important skill because we all have to eat. If you know how to cook you don’t have rely on processed food but can create your own recipes and meals.
Ideas to get started with kids in the kitchen.
- Make mixes like oatmeal packages this helps kids learn to measure ingredients and no liquid to spill
- Make no fail recipes like Pancakes, they don’t take long to make and this can give a child a success right from the start
- Let the kids do part of a recipe such as stirring or pressing dough if the recipe is too complex for them to do all of it
- If there is something your kids don’t like to eat have them help make the item, it just might get them to give it a try
- Give older kids things they can do on their own like making a salad to go with dinner or a side dish to build their confidence in cooking
