I love teaching my kids how to cook. I like watching their faces as they light up when I let them mix something, pour something, or even measure something.
Cooking together also encourages healthy eating habits and responsibility. It also ensures my kids know how to boil water for pasta, cook an egg, or even make toast.
I also find that with my fussy eater, she is more likely to try something if she had a hand in making it. I can give you the example of the meatloaf. She would NEVER touch meatloaf ever.
However, one day I had her help me make it and I made it the same way I always did. But because she had a hand in making it, she wanted to try the fruits of our labor. Guess what? Now she eats meatloaf.
Start your kids cooking early
While there is a limit to what my children are able to do when they help their mom out in the kitchen, there is stuff they can do. I let them wash the vegetables, stir bowls, mix dough, put toppings on homemade pizza, measure ingredients, and even set the table. While cooking we talk about where the food items come from, why it tastes good, and how food changes when it is cooked. So it is fun AND a learning experience.
Cooking should be a fun activity
When I cook on my own I like to make it fun and sometimes pretend I have my own cooking show. Then my husband gives me an odd look…but that is a conversation for another day. Anyway, make cooking fun for children as a way to entice them to help out. I like to tell my kids, “While mommy and daddy don’t let you play with your food at the table, now is a perfect change to get your hands dirty!”
For example, when I make banana bread, my boy loves squishing the bananas between his fingers. If he was eating an ordinary banana and saw him doing this I’d probably have a heart attack, but we are making banana bread, so let’s get messy!
As a side note, I have invested in a lot of hand soap by the kitchen sink and mini aprons for my kids. While I love having them in the kitchen with me, I do not want to lose half my food on their clothes.
Give them responsibilities
As your children get older, they can handle more in the kitchen, such as peeling fruits and vegetables and even cutting things. One of my kids cannot wait until they are old enough can use the meat slicer! Let your children “create a meal,” even if it is something as simple as making hot dogs. It will make them feel really good.
What I like to do is create cookbooks for my kids. Every time we make a meal together, we take pictures and put them in a scrapbook next to the recipe. Not only is it a good keepsake for children later on, but they can always look through and say they want to make that meal.
I also invested in a few cookbooks that are made for children. I let them pick out what they want, help me gather the ingredients, and we make it together.
Plan your meals with your kids
Sit down with the kids and talk to them about what kind of food they want to help make. For example, my kids love making pizzas, homemade macaroni and cheese, and tomato sauce because there are lots of little parts they can help out with. My kids also love baking, so we try to do three baking projects a week and my kids get to help choose what we make. I find when my kids help to plan the meals, they are even more excited to eat it.
Don’t let them get out of cleaning
Just as cooking the food is important, so is the cleaning! While there is the saying “A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is delirious,” I still like to see my countertops every now and then. Teach your kids how to clean up after cooking so as they get older, they will start cleaning up after themselves when they start cooking you full meals! (I cannot wait for that day!)
About the author: Melissa Cameron is a wife and a mom of two young kids who loves making scrap books and doing research on all the cool items she can put in her kitchen. She highly recommends SimpleItalianCooking.com for great recipes by an authentic Italian cook who loves what she can teach others.
Photo credit: Bev Lloyd-Roberts