Last night we had vegetable stew and cornbread for dinner, and guess who did almost all of the cooking? Ds5! This was thanks to the efforts of dd17, who involved him and found a way for him to independently prepare most of dinner. You should have seen how proud he was, as he kept telling everyone during dinner that he made almost everything himself and dd17 hardly helped him!
Here’s what dd17 did. (I was considering taking a picture of this to show you, but didn’t think it would show up well.) She fully illustrated the cornbread recipe for ds5! To start, at the top of the page she drew an ear of corn + a loaf of bread, then asked him what that was – to which he quickly answered, “Cornbread!”
She went on to draw each item – when it called for two cups of something, she drew two cups and then the item that needed to be measured out. For tablespoons, she drew big spoons; for teaspoons, she drew small spoons. She numbered the instructions, which was important for the next step.
When she wrote out the instructions, she wrote, “1, 2, 3, 5, 6” and illustrated that it was supposed to be mixed. Then she wrote the numbers that were involved in the next step. Thanks to these very clear instructions (which she explained to him to be sure he understood them all before he began), he was able to make the entire pan of cornbread by himself.
As far as the stew, he already knows how to peel and chop vegetables (yes, with a sharp knife – ds2.5 also peels vegetables, but doesn’t yet use a sharp knife), so that was mostly just a matter of putting it in a pot and dd adding the necessary liquid.
Do you know how much it builds kids up to be able to do something they view as ‘big people’ work, and do it well? Ds5 was hearing “thank you”s and compliments all dinner long! Getting your kids involved in the kitchen is an easy and natural step to helping them develop important home management skills.
Dd15 was telling me recently that she never understood why so many people were taken aback about her baking and cooking so well, until she saw how uncommon it is even for teenagers to be involved in the kitchen. (She told me about a teenager who proudly told her about the cake she had made ‘by herself’ – the mother had measured the ingredients into the bowl, and the teenager had mixed it and poured it into a pan.) And also, she’s now heard enough comments to realize that many people view cooking from scratch as a very difficult thing. But for us, it’s just how we’ve always cooked, so it’s normal to our kids.
It definitely takes more time to get your kids involved when they’re young, because it’s easier and faster to do it all yourself. It’s in the long run that it pays off, when your kids can prepare anything that needs to be made – I think by 12 a child is basically capable of mastering all of the chores that are part of running a home, but that doesn’t mean they want to do it or know how to do it. They have to be taught, and it has to be something they’re given the opportunity to do – they won’t learn by osmosis! I’ve found that when I view the time I spend preparing your meals as an activity I’m doing with my kids, I don’t mind that it takes longer. They’re busy having fun while being productive and learning important skills, while you’re getting something done!
Avivah
Does your DS5 peel and chop everything on his own? Or is there someone supervising closely? I’d started introducing peeling and shredding to my DD5yo, and then she shredded her finger (under DH’s supervision) and needed to go to the ER. She hasn’t shown much interest in vegetable prep since then. Also, last she tried, she couldn’t cut through hard things like carrots.
A child this age is definitely supervised closely in the kitchen! That’s why it takes so much longer to work with them, lol.
A peeler is a challenge, since anyone can shred their finger. I’ve shown them a number of times how to do it carefully, and pointed out that the blade is like a knife so they shouldn’t do it too quickly. We’ve had some minor cuts but nothing that put the kids off.
He did cut through potatoes and carrots last night, but we happen to have small carrots right now. If they were bigger, he might have had the same trouble, and we would cut them in half lengthwise before having him cut them more.
My 5 year old loves cracking eggs and pouring items in bowl and mixing and likes to stir scrambled eggs!
That’s great!
(My husband once showed the kids how to crack eggs by hitting them on their forehead – believe me, that made eggs even more fun for them!)
Dear Aviva, What a BRILLIANT idea! Wish I’d had your wisdom back when my kids were that little…although they do both love to cook now (ds21 & ds15).
Peace,
Lyss
Thank you, Lyss! I have to give my dd17 full credit for this, though. Tonight she showed me that she’s making ds5 and ds4 a cookbook for Chanuka, which will be quite a project for her! She’s a very good big sister.
That is so sweet~
Such a great post! Having kids in the kitchen reaps huge benefits! I let my kids join me as often as they like. Right now, my 2 year old loves to stand with me while I do anything in the kitchen. I’ve always allowed them in to help, at their own level. And now, my 8 year old bakes (and decorates) Shabbos dessert all the time. She makes lunch almost every day. She and my next one also make salad at least once a day. They love to help and they really do feel so accomplished!!
I love to make meals with my kids. We make challah, cakes, muffins, cookies, soups, stews, cholent and more together. They love to line up and divide the vegetables according to who gets what. They enjoy eating it too! They also often will make sandwiches and peel apples for themselves for snacks, etc. They help me wash dishes and clean up too, and every Thursday night one of their favorite tasks is to clean the floors. First they pick up everything, then prepare a bowl of warm water with liquid soap, and they take towels and scrub down (usually the walls and chairs too!).
Oops, I left out the part that the illustrated recipe is brilliant!
So nice to hear the comments of moms who are involving their little kids in the kitchen – I love it!
so this morning i read this post and then literally minutes later my ds4 had the peeler in his hand ready to peel an apple. now normally i would have taken it away and done it myself but i just went over to show him how to do it, how to be careful, and i watched and praised him. so of course dd3 also wanted to peel an apple so i showed her how to, etc. needless to say perfect timing for this post! they peeled about 6 apples and 4 cucumbers today (just because they could). i wonder what i’m going to have peeled tomorrow…
on another note, i called my husband today and told him i pulled an avivah. i have been getting my wheat berries in bulk at whole foods with a 10 % discount which wasn’t much but i wasnt ready to make an effort to try and find cheaper. a new sprouts opened up by me and i decided to see what they would offer me. so to make a long story short i’m now getting a 35% discount and the store is actually closer to me! just thought i’d share 🙂 oh, and almonds are also on sale this week so i’ll be paying a dollar less a pound for those 🙂 i’m stocking up!
Yay, estee, this is great!
So often people have told me that they couldn’t apply the strategies I did to save on food, and I love hearing when people actually do it and see big drops in costs!