Tomorrow my oldest daughter will celebrate her half birthday at school. For the past two years she has wanted to make frosted, heart shaped, sugar cookies. This just fits her personality right down to the pink frosting!
I think part of the reason that she likes the cookies so much, is because she gets to help make them. My girls are in the kitchen a lot and for the most part I welcome their involvement. Growing up I loved being in the kitchen with my Mom and sister, and now I get to pass that love on to my girls!
Every time you have kids in the kitchen there are some important things to consider.
#1 is Safety! Accidents do happen, but we need to be on the lookout for potential dangers. Especially around the stove.
#2 is Age appropriate! What can kids do? What equipment can they use? Can you modify the instructions, or add a step, to involve kids? It is amazing, with a little help, what kids can do.
#3 is Practice patience! This is the thing that I need to remind myself to do when cooking with children! Things don't need to be done perfectly! It is okay if the heart shaped cookies are a "little out of shape", or if flour gets on the floor, from an over zealous mixer! Note to self - Don't clean your kitchen floors before cooking with kids, you will have to do it again when you are finished. Realize that things might take a "little longer", compared to how long it normally takes you to complete a task.
#4 is Look for teachable moments! Cooking can lead to great quality time with your kids and great opportunities to teach them many "life lessons" like sharing, healthy eating habits, and cleanliness to just name a few.
As you are in the kitchen with kids, you are in the process of transforming your house into a home!
3 comments:
Your girls are so cute :) I really like the 1/2 birthday idea - I just learned about that this year.
How fun that we are so like minded with this. I love your post. I will be going back and doing some more thorough posts about this because I think it's so important. It's amazing to me the number of my friends who are still in the "learning stages" in regards to cooking It's wonderful to be able to give our children this early gift.
PS Love your reading list - I have all but 2 of the ones you recommend. :)
Look at those sweet, sweet girls. And their charming aprons. I have met so many young women these days who have no clue how to cook, have never made a dessert from scratch, and were raised in families where they never shared a moment in the kitchen with their moms. So sad. Keep up the great work. Your future sons-in-laws will love you for it :)
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