Today’s Learning with Little Ones post is from my friend Kristin. Kristin is a mom of 5 little ones and blogs at Bits and Pieces from My Life.
My son, Owen, is eight and he wants to own a bakery when he grows up. One Saturday morning, he asked to make chocolate chip cookies with his older sister who is 10. I was on my way to take a shower but I knew they both had experience in the kitchen so I said, “Go for it and I’ll bake them for you when I’m done in the bathroom.” They happily worked while I showered, dreaming of cookies for dessert.
When I put the first pan into the oven for them, I noticed the dough balls looked a little shiny and slid around on the pan a bit. A few minutes later, a strange smell emerged from the oven. The cookies still had five minutes to go and yet they smelled burned. To make a long story short, when the kids measure the ingredients for the cookies, they interpreted 2¼ cups of flour as two ¼ cups! The result was a greasy, globby mess of inedible dough. The next weekend, they asked for another chance and the cookies turned out chewy in the center with crispy edges– perfection!
It wasn’t long ago that I avoided having my kids in the kitchen. Sure, I let them do some mixing or helping on occasion, but asking for their help or letting them take over a recipe made me cringe because I could work so much faster and more neatly on my own. Admittedly I still feel that way, but I’m learning the benefits of welcoming my kids into the kitchen and I’ve developed a few tips to make it pleasurable for all of us.
1) Limit helpers to 1-2 kids at a time.
It’s overwhelming to oversee more than a few tasks at once so let your helpers rotate. Of course, you can make exceptions for special events like decorating Christmas cookies.
2) Teach kitchen safety early in the process.
If your kids know to wash their hands after handling raw meat, if they can use a knife carefully, and if they keep their fingers away from hot surfaces, you can concentrate on the fun aspects of cooking without reviewing the tedious details.
3) Look for opportunities to initiate time in the kitchen with your kids so that you can say “no” without guilt when it is less convenient.
Plan ahead and ask a child to help you toss a salad, knead the bread, or add toppings to the oatmeal. Teach them to cut out cookies or brown ground beef or preheat the oven on a day when you are relaxed and not in a hurry. On a stressful, busy evening, you can choose to work alone with no regret. (Or maybe you will have trained your children so well that they can perform big tasks independently and you can thank them gratefully!)
Which leads us to…
4) Allow your kids to work towards self-sufficiency.
While you are nearby to offer assistance, give your kids kitchen jobs to perform alone. A 7-year-old can read a basic recipe. An 8-year-old can slice cucumber. A 10-year-old can open cans, drain and rinse beans, and start a pot of soup!
5) Answer all questions, but allow kids to make their own mistakes.
(Look away or leave the room if necessary!) I tend to meddle when my kids cooks, but I’m learning to let them go to figure things out on their own. It builds their confidence and helps them develop their own style, too.
Kristin is a blogger at Bits and Pieces From My Life. She writes about life with 5 kids, homeschooling, books, more books, food, and running. Her newest eBook Books for Christmas: What to Buy the Young People in Your Life will be available for free download on November 3. You can also find her on Facebook and Pinterest.
Do your kids like to work in the kitchen cooking or baking? If so, what have you done to give them these life skills and what are their favorite things to make? If your kids don’t cook or bake what is one thing you can do this week to help teach them?
I love this! I don’t kids, but next week I’m starting a program in the schools to get kids cooking. We’ll start out with salsa next week, and I’m looking forward to it! It’s just so important to start those skills early!
You’re braver than I am letting them try it alone! With that being said, my boys are a little younger- 6 and just turned 9. They both love to cook too. I love your tips. I think it will also greatly help them when they are older and attempting to be self-sufficient. Great skills to pass on!
My kids and I love to cook together. Largely, I’m sure, because I love to cook and am in the kitchen often. My kids are still young (4,2, and 9mo) but they are able to do different things. Well, mainly the baby is just able to snack and chew on spatulas.
I definitely agree that kitchen safety can (and should) be taught when kids are little. My 4yo and 2yo have progressed from plastic knives to age-appropriate knives that can actually be used to chop apples, bananas, potatoes, peppers, etc. And my 4yo can stand at the stove and make pancakes and scrambled eggs because he’s been taught where to keep his hands safely while he cooks.
Of course, so much of this is up to a parent’s discretion as to whether a child is ready to do more or not. My point in sharing is just that often our kids are more capable than we think! I’ve written a bit about knife and stovetop safety. Getting kids involved and busy in the kitchen is a passion of mine!
Thank you for the great tips! 🙂
I love this! As a newly crowned Empty Nester, I feared that I didn’t teach my girlie enough in the kitchen! We rarely had interest. Sure, we had a short season where she would cook dinner on her own once every other week… we bought her a few easy cookbooks and would have her pick out a recipe before I would do the shopping… it only lasted about 4 or 5 months, and then sports and school and life stuff took over and we didn’t make it a priority! Now, she lives with two other girlfriends and they love to cook and bake… plus she is a prep cook during the day, so she is getting all kinds of skills and recipes! (Given, they feed a couple hundred at a time, but she is learning still!)
We used to make Christmas cookies together, but I wish I had had them in the kitchen more often as they were growing up. Thankfully the older two have enjoyed learning to cook as they went out on their own.
My little one likes to help make cakes! Makes her feel like mummy she says!
This is such a cute story with great tips. While my sons are now grown and my daughter is a teen, I remember so many times of them ‘helping’ in the kitchen. When I turned 30, my oldest was 6 and wanted to make me a birthday dinner. Oh my! Needless to say the kitchen wound up a disaster, but in his heart and mind, he made the best birthday dinner ever.
We are big fans of getting kids in the kitchen to cook! Ours our very little yet, so I’ve created a 20 minutes at a time model…selecting recipes that are easy for them to do and that take no more than 20 minutes of prep. Our kids go crazy for it! Thanks for these helpful tips!