Kids In The Kitchen

In my BK era (before kids, not Burger King!), I had grand dreams of spending countless hours with my many children, enjoying each other’s company as we sat around the kitchen, happily baking cookies, bread, dinner, or whatever struck us each day.  It would be a part of our routine.

Then I hit HK - having kids.  And it was a totally different ballgame.

That’s not to say my kids don’t enjoy the kitchen.  I have a handy shoe box in a cabinet full of plastic and metal pretend cookware, and my younger son loves to cook with them.  And, I have several cookbooks specifically for cooking WITH children (not just FOR them).  Some of them are from when I was a child, and some have been purchased over the past several years, but the recipes in all of them are simple and fun - just what my boys need.

The important thing about cooking with children is safety.  Always be mindful of ovens and stovetops, knives and beaters, blenders and can openers.  Kids love to explore, and the kitchen area is no stranger to that.  Practice safety precautions with your children; teach them the appropriate way to use a tool, provided they are old enough to be using it (I wouldn’t let my two year-old put something in the oven, but my eight year-old could handle it.

Secondly, let go of any preconceived notion of what the end result will be.  Chances are, that cake isn’t going to look like the cover of Southern Living magazine, and the pizza project might not even be edible.  But, that’s not the point.  Children need that opportunity to explore and find out things for themselves, to take ownership in a task, and the kitchen can be a wonderful setting for that lesson.  Allow the child to choose their own cooking project from time to time; they may surprise you with a vegetable medley!

Make it an event.  Take pictures, invite a friend, have them write it down.  If it is really good, sneak a bit into their lunch the next day as a reminder of what an awesome job they did.  And, if things don’t turn out the way your child thinks they should have, that’s a great lesson to learn as well.  Not everything in the kitchen turns out perfectly.  We learn to adapt and change and try again.

Take some time this week to invite the children in your life into the kitchen.  It is one of life’s learning laboratories!