Cooking Alongside Children: The Benefits of Forming Little Chefs
What are the benefits of cooking alongside children?
- Build Relationships.
- Make Memories
- Grow in Patience
- Kids Learn to Follow instructions
- Kids Learn Kitchen Skills and gain confidence.
- Kids Learn to Prepare Healthy Meals
My Mom Cooked alongside me.
I vividly remember time spent baking with my mother as a child.She taught me how to make the perfect pie crust and the best biscuits. We frequently made cookies, and every holiday, my grandmother’s cranberry steamed pudding. Those memories are warm and precious to me. I am in awe thinking about how patient she was with me. I should add, she didn’t hesitate to reprimand me if I was daydreaming instead of listening to her instructions, “Paige I told you we must use cold butter not melted butter in the biscuits!” Baking brought us together but also taught me many basic skills.
Making Memories and Building Relationships
Years later I bring my kids over to bake with grandma. She lets them knead and poke raisin into the bread dough. They absolutely adore the cozy kitchen and I admire the sight of it all. She is still patient while her little helpers smear the butter, sneak the sugar and spill the flour. I can’t say I would have developed a love for time in the Kitchen without my mother. She instilled a love of baking in me that has overflowed to my children; and my memories often remind me of how diligent she was with me.
Often the kitchen creations skip the dining room and land on our cozy round coffee table. Our favorite thing to do is eat our fresh treats around the coffee table with tea or hot cocoa while listening to Laura Ingles Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series. There is little as gratifying as that especially when you’ve got a warm cinnamon sugar twist on your plate.
When my husband was a boy some of his fondest memories was watching his Aunt Donna cook Italian meals. She would listen to Louis Prima and cook all day long! My Husband credits His Aunt Donna for his love of cooking, and yes, he still listens and Luis Prima when he cooks. When he does, it is one of my favorite family moments, he usually gathers the girls around to cut herbs and spread olive oil.
I try to include my children several times a week in the cooking and baking process. If the four of them don’t drag kitchen chairs to the island all at once, I will typically invite a child over to “come and help” to be sure, the rest swiftly follow.
Growing in Patience
I know what you’re thinking, flour spills sugar trails and vanilla stains. Yes, it’s true baking with kids is messy! When I had my first, I knew it was important to include her, but it was difficult for me to lose time to include her. When I did ask her to help, I called her over to stir and make dough balls.
At one point I realized children can do much more than just roll cookie dough balls.A few years later when my third daughter turned two she became increasingly curious about cooking. Cecilia would say, (and still does) Can I help make?” Being the persistent two year old she was, when she would find me in the kitchen she would ask once again “Can I make?” At first this stressed me out, but after saying yes many times over, I finally embraced my call, and began enjoying time in the kitchen with my kids. (Yes, embracing sacrifice for your children brings Joy!)
Learning to follow Instructions
Over time, my children have gotten better at following instructions. I’ve gotten better at managing them and with regularity we all find ourselves frequently gathered around the kitchen making. Bread, tortillas, muffins, biscuits, pies, cornbread, cupcakes, cookies, pasta, salad.
There are some recipes that I am able to let my girls do all of the hard work, I just give instructions. If I’m really on top of the situation, I’m able to have the kids wipe the counter, sweep the flour and do a few dishes when we’ve got our goodies baking in the oven. Sometimes it feels like a bakery run by little people, with all the funny happenings you might expect while baking with four little girls and a baby in tote.
Building Relationships
My Mother built her relationship with me in the Kitchen, I intend to do the same for my girls. The kitchen teaches children many skills, but the memories that have been made and those yet to be made are lasting, and I hope this fabric of our family culture will continue to be weaved through the generations.
Below is a list of how cooking can build a relationship.
- Cooking together helps mother and child spend time together
- While cooking you will find common ground as you succeed and fail together.
- Taste testing is always a fun bonding moment! My oldest always gets a glint in her eye right before licking the spoon.
- Cooking together is a fantastic conversation starter.
Building Kitchen Skills
When children learn skills they learn confidence that can sustain healthy eating habits as adults. Adults need to cook, so it is vital children are competent and confident to cut those potatoes instead of buy that frozen dinner!
There are so many ways to grow while cooking together in the kitchen. One day we made pizza together. We enjoyed tossing and stretching and my two and four year old especially loved kneading the dough and spreading the sauce . I had a pair of girls on one side and a pair on the other. They all began adding the toppings.
My girls carefully added salt, basil, oregano and cheese. The cheese was grated by my then, 5 year old with a potato peeler. My girls were delighted to seeing their creations transformed in the oven and then ready on the cutting board.
As we sat down to eat the pizza first everyone was delighted, then all five of us chimed,
“Yuck!Too much basil!”
“Well girls, now we know, next time we will add less basil!” I said peeling a piece of crust apart.
Cecilia piped, “Ya, and more cheese.”
Afterwards we made cinnamon twists from the leftover dough. Some said they were as good as Domino’s and others said our twists were better!
Below are some basic cooking skills children learn while cooking alongside mothers and fathers.
- Grate Cheese
- Cut vegetables
- scramble eggs
- flip pancakes
- amount of waffle or pancake mix to add
- wash potatoes
- divide cake into even slices
- mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients.
- crack eggs
- look up a recipe
Below are some other life skills children learn while cooking alongside mothers and fathers.
- read
- measure
- fraction
- work together
- wait
- listen
- fine motor
- ask questions
Learning to Prepare Healthy Meals
Children spend little time adding skills into their tool belts that will help them live good lives as adults. Since Eating well is a significant component to living a good life why arent more adults committed to teaching children how to cook well? How many times have we heard, “Kids should eat more fruits and vegetables, have a balanced diet and not eat fast food often.”?
Well, why not add,
“Teach kids how to prepare healthy food!” or
“Cook with your kids!”
I love the Kid Fit Chef from the daily wire. Wonderful concept!
Comment Below
Perhaps would like to share some stories of cooking with you mom or dad? Do have any good stories to share about baking with your kids?
What were your favorite memories in the kitchen with your mother? I’d love to know! Let me know in the comment section below.
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