Podcast Episode 31. How to Easily Get Kids Cooking Without Making Yourself Crazy [encore]
Preparing meals with my 2 year old by my side has been challenging, to say the least. When he isn’t insisting that I hold him by tugging on my clothes and pulling out his best whimper, he’s often determined to be in the middle of everything, from measuring spices, to cutting vegetables or dumping oats all over the floor (visit me on Facebook or Instagram to see this week’s disaster).
It can be exhausting to say the least and I am often feeling cranky and drained by the time we sit down to dinner.
One of the things that has helped me navigate the challenge of feeding our family of 5 boys is teaching my older boys to cook, and summer is my favorite time to do it.
31. How to Easily Get Kids Cooking Without Making Yourself Crazy [encore]
Preparing meals with my 2 year old by my side has been challenging, to say the least. When he isn’t insisting that I hold him by tugging on my clothes and pulling out his best whimper, he’s often determined to be in the middle of everything, from measuring spices, to cutting vegetables or dumping oats all over the floor (visit me on Facebook or Instagram to see this week’s disaster).
Meals my boys are making:
Things to remember from this episode:
- Benefits of teaching kids to cook
- They are prepared to feed themselves nourishing food when they leave the home
- They recognize the time effort that goes into meals become more grateful and less picky and entitled
- Having a set schedule reduces the need to plan
- Having children cook can totally change the experience of having company for dinner as it takes the pressure off you and builds confidence in the child
- How to be successful
- Set clear expectations and boundaries, but allow the child to choose a favorite meal within those boundaries
- Spell out your expectations in a printed, bulleted list
- Schedule the meal to be recurring at least 4-5 times – a week in the summer or once a week for a month to allow the child to gain proficiency
- Create a binder of recipes just for the kids to make it especially easy to find their favorites
- Finally, abandon perfectionism, embrace the effective over the efficient path and start small to allow for quick wins that will build momentum.
- My friend, you are doing a great job! I hope you will take note of all the things you are already doing well and find a thing or two you can do that will make things run more smoothly in your home.