5 Reasons to Cook with Your Kids

I love cooking in the kitchen with our kids. For the most part it’s enjoyable because they love to be involved in the process.

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We have a child chopper that Rebecca has used since she was 2 years old to cut vegetable and sandwiches. She’s 4.5 now and although she still uses it, she has graduated to using a real steak knife (with supervision, of course!).

Cooking in the kitchen works especially well for strong willed children. Strong willed children like to master things and allowing them to do important tasks in the kitchen empowers them in ways that not many other things can.

2. It’s educational

Not only is this a great time to talk about fruits, vegetables, and various ingredients, this is the perfect time to teach your kids about how to do things in the kitchen.

What this looks like:

• “After we touch chicken we don’t touch anything else until we wash our hands.”
• “This is how we crack an egg, Now you try it.”
• “We peel potatoes away from us so that we don’t accidentally cut our own hands.”

These are all valuable life skills that need teaching as much as the educational concepts our children learn at school when it comes to reading, writing, and math.

3. It’s a great way to connect

Whether you need to have a parent connect with a child or need your children to connect with each other, this can be accomplished while cooking in the kitchen. You can have one parent and one child cook to build a one on one connection. Or you can give a set of siblings a job to do that requires them to use team work and problem solving skills.

What this looks like:

“Kids, I need a carrot and a piece of celery cut up into pieces. Can you guys do that for me?” If they ask you who will do what, tell them to decide together. Some kids can do this easily but some can’t. If it seems like they are having trouble working it out on their own, ask them if they need help. “Do you need helping solving this problem?” If they do you can then offer them suggestions. {Each person cuts half of the celery and half of the carrots or one person gets the vegetables and one person cuts them.} Working together will make them feel like they’ve accomplished a lot and you’ll be amazed at how proud of themselves they will be.

4. It’s a way for everyone to feel included

When everyone helps to cook in the kitchen, everyone feels included and part of the team. The entire family is working towards a common goal and team work becomes essential. Even babies can feel like they are cooking. In the photo above a tiny Rebecca is holding a spoon. She took a few turns at mixing the pudding (and then happily put the spoon in her mouth!).

Kids especially feel important when they feel like they’re cooking something important. Above is Rebecca helping me to make Cinnamon Chip Scones (that recipe is coming tomorrow). We make a double batch and put most of them in the freezer and bake some right away for a snack or breakfast. Inevitably, she likes to remind us that she cooked breakfast and feels a huge sense of pride in the fact that she was included.

5. It’s fun!

You can sing funny songs or play music and dance around the kitchen between steps. You can have your kids tell you about their day (which they’ll be glad to do because they’re distracted by the cooking). Sharing food and taste testing makes cooking with kids even more enjoyable. I love this photo of Kate who put her chef hat on as a bonnet.

I’m on a few private parenting groups on Facebook and I’ve noticed that cooking with kids is a hot button issue. Cooking seems like something so small but it’s not something small for everyone.

Cooking with kids is messy, complicated, and frustrating. If chaos is a trigger for you, cooking with your kids will be hard for you. I always tell the parents that I teach that if you truly don’t enjoy something, then don’t do it. Your kids will see right through you and will know you are faking it. There’s nothing wrong with saying, “I really don’t want to do that” or “I really enjoy cooking alone.” They’ll learn to appreciate your honesty and will know that when you do choose to do something with them, it’s because you really want to be there, however, if you don’t mind using something similar to Bissell to clean up after cooking, you and your children could have fun cooking together.

However, if cooking with your kids is something that mildly bothers you, there are plenty of ways to get through it.

What this looks like:

• Have them gather all the ingredients.
• Have them gather all the utensils and bowls that they can reach
• Have them measure out the dry ingredients
• Have them place dirty dishes in the dishwasher
• Have them read the recipe to you
• Ask them to predict what comes next
• Have them draw a picture of what you are making
• Have them take food orders, complete with writing it in a notebook with a pencil.
• Have them stir a bowl or pot
• Have them make space in the refrigerator or freezer for what you are making
• Have them write ingredients that you need to replace on a grocery list

Cooking with kids doesn’t mean they need to be present and involved with the entire process. As long as you are making them a part of one process, they’ll be cooking with you.

What’s your favorite thing to cook with your kids?

xoxo
–k