Does the thought of letting your child use a hot stove or sharp knife sound dangerously insane?
If it’s important to you to teach your children how to safely prepare and cook healthy food so you’re not their personal chef until they move out to college… stick with me until the end. I promise to show you the benefits of teaching children how to fully navigate their way through the kitchen at a young age.
Don’t get me wrong. The first time you see them use a knife (hey, maybe it’s even a butter knife to cut a banana) may be nerve wrecking. But no more than the moment their training wheels come off their bike or they ski down the hill for the first time alone or they take their water wings off before jumping in the pool.
But if it’s important to you to see your kids love food, to know where their food comes from, to see how much hard work it takes to prepare, and to understand that nutrient dense food requires peeling, chopping, cutting, slicing and cooking… you are going to need to put aside your limiting beliefs and trust that you’re capable of safely teaching them these skills.
Think about it...
If your children grow up oblivious to what it takes to prepare real food and afraid of learning how to cook, does it not seem logical that as teenagers and adults these individuals will default to prepackaged, processed and fast food alternatives?
Yes, they might get hurt.
Yes, they will definitely make a mess.
Yes, it’s going to take much longer than if you just did it yourself.
But the short-term challenges are absolutely worth the long-term benefits.
So here are five strategies for helping your kids get started in the kitchen.
- Let them mess up your kitchen. Sure your blood will be boiling that the salt shaker spilled all over the floor and that cupboards are left open, but being a hovering clean freak is just going to suck the fun out of learning how to cook for them. Of course, they need to understand that cleaning up is part of the meal prep process, but let them have their fun while they’re cooking and stop nagging them to keep the kitchen tidy.
- Show them safely how to use knives, ovens and stoves. Key word here is safely. Just like any other skill your children develop, you will need to start with very simple tasks and build on them at an appropriate speed. That may mean you start by cutting a banana with a butter knife then graduating to sharper and larger knives and more difficult foods to cut.
- Cook a real meal with them, not just pouring their own cereal in a bowl (although I hope you’re helping them make better choices than that!) Children need to see what it takes to prepare a nutrient dense meal in order for them to love and appreciate how it fuels their body properly to run fast, jump high, read, focus and sleep. The meals don’t need to be complicated. Try Pumpkin Spice Waffles, B’eggs and Apple Pecan Kale Salad.
- Be patient with them in a stress free kitchen. No one is having fun if dinner needs to be on the table in twenty minutes and the kids need to be on the soccer field in an hour. It’s rushed, it’s chaotic and there’s no time to slow the pace down, enjoy the process and most importantly, ensure your kids are safely learning the skills needed to make dinner. Start by choosing a day and time that works for everyone - a weekend or a P.D. day work great.
- Zip your mouth shut... seriously! Turn on your family’s favourite music and stop talking. Allow your kids to take control of the meal, read the recipe themselves, get the ingredients out, and start prepping and cooking. If they ask a question, of course answer. But stop trying to micromanage every single step. Let them first try to figure it out themselves and only offer suggestions if they appear to be really stuck.
There you have it, five ways to help fuel your child’s love of cooking. Children are inherently curious and when given the option to learn a new skill or to help make dinner for the family they jump at the responsibility.
The biggest challenge will be putting aside your fears of seeing them with sharp and hot objects in the kitchen.
But really, if your kids are capable of using an iPad they are sure as heck ready to learn how to use knives and stoves. End of story.
For more simple By Design recipes that you can make with your kids why not pick up your copy of the Eat By Design Cookbook. I’ve created it in the form of a 28-day meal plan (plus grocery lists!) so you don’t need to think about what’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner for the next month. Or you can grab the first 7 days FREE by clicking here.