Kids in the Kitchen

So over the past few weeks I've been venturing into the world of cooking with my kids. I've baked with them in the past from time to time and let them help with dinners occasionally but there hasn't been any concerted effort to get them into the kitchen. Usually despite my best attempts, our cooking adventures have left me feeling beyond frazzled and the kids not getting nearly as much out of it as they could. So now that I'm a professional I thought I'd pass along a few helpful tips and some of the many benefits of bringing your youngest family members into the kitchen...

1. Divide and conquer.   In the past I'd have both the kids in the kitchen with me and it was beyond annoying. The kids are fighting over who gets to do what, dumping things over when I'm helping the other. In one word, CHAOS. So now I only allow one kid in the kitchen with me at a time.

But how does this happen?

2. Each child has a night that is there territory. Tuesday is Sydney's night to cook, and Thursday is Cade's. This helps twofold. It helps to prepare both the kids and me mentally for what to expect. There's no more whining that Cade wants to help when it's Sydney's night and vice versa. I'm not left pulling my hair out because I can concentrate all my attention on Syd. Now it's still messy don't get me wrong but it's different when you know all week that Tuesday and Thursday will be a bit of a gong show.

3. I let the kids menu plan. Instead of me deciding what we're going to eat and having the kids do the tasks, they decide early in the week what they'd like to make and we plan from there. I have to say I LOVE this. It's such a great tool to teach your kids proper nutrition. For example: Sydney wanted to make this vegetable soup for dinner on her first night. That's wonderful and nutritious but I don't know about you, but 50 calories isn't going to fill this girl up! So we talked about needing to have a few food groups represented and rounded out the menu with some homemade cheese toast. Cade on the other hand wanted to make grill cheese sandwiches and that was it. We then talked about it and decided broccoli would make a nice addition. So in this way you can educate your kids on what a proper meal looks like. 

4. Really let the kids go at it. It's so hard (at least for me) to let others into my kitchen! Especially when it involves messing up, but it's important for the kids to really take an active role in the preparation. Cade made pancakes the other day and the cracking of the eggs (and subsequent scooping out of eggshells) took soooooooo much longer than necessary but he loved every minute of it. Which brings me to the last point...

5. Allow for extra time! Enough said.

So here's a few of the many benefits of getting your kids in the kitchen.

1. It builds self-esteem. It's amazing to see how proud the kids are of their creations.
2. It promotes creativity. We focus on presentation at the table too, and the kids love putting their personal touches on it.
3. It makes picky eaters eat better. Even if the dinner hasn't been the best, boy do the kids gobble it up.
4. It grows appreciation for the effort that putting meals together takes. From the grocery shopping to the cooking, and cleaning. The kids have fun but work hard on their nights.
5. It will make them killer spouses down the road. (Hopefully!)

In the midst of all our cooking I've been looking for a few good websites that really promote healthy meal planning with the younger set in mind and I'll be posting that in the coming weeks. 

Have a great day!
Sarah