Cooking with Kids

-
The title of this post probably gets you all excited at the prospect of some brand new ideas for cooking with your children.  Or not.  Perhaps it just makes you feel a little unwell, and then guilty because you  don't actually like cooking with your children.

Well, folks, if you're in the latter group, I'm right on there in it with you.

I know I should like it.  It's one of those "Good Mother" type of activities (like craft) but I find it stressful.  Especially with the preschooler who loves it but then makes a giant mess and so 'cooking' ends up taking me 10 times longer than it would have if I had done it on my own.  I try to limit her contribution to 'putting the patty cake cases into the muffin tin' but this is starting to not cut it (see photo).  On the weekend I let her use the electric beaters and put the mixture into the cases, so I don't think there's any way of retreating back to the less messy options now.

I have offered 'rubbing the butter into the flour' or 'greasing the tin' to my older kids - but they don't want to get their hands dirty!

I have to say, that despite my reluctance, my ten year old recently made cupcakes with a friend ('Have no cocoa? Oh well, let's make them anyway'...didn't quite work) and regularly makes salads for family dinners.

So once again, my brave children seeming to rising above the challenges of having me as their mother!

Comments

Pip said…
I cook with my kids (well only the middle one is really interested, the older one just turns up when it is time to lick the bowl). I see it as preparing for the future joy of not having to cook every meal every day...and maybe winning junior masterchef so we get a free holiday overseas ; )
February 17, 2011 at 11:15 PM
Clarence said…
I'm not very good at sharing my cooking time. I see it as my down time and I find it incredibly relaxing, so to share the cooking space is not something I readily enjoy. PP is much better at the doing the baking and I usually wait until the holidays or the weekend to have a bonding cooking fest, preferably in the morning when I'm not tired. Kate
February 18, 2011 at 6:21 AM
Jenny said…
Cunning plans Pip! I think that's what it is for me too Kate - I enjoy cooking but I enjoy it most when I'm on my own and not interrupted. Which is probably why I don't cook a lot of nice food - I just do what I absolutely need to so that we stay alive. Not particularly inspiring.
February 18, 2011 at 9:51 AM
Karen said…
I'm the same. Cooking in our house is far less stressful when children are not involved in the process. Sometimes I get them to help stir things, pour out pre-measured stuff into the bowl and then they get to the lick the bowl at the end. Fortunately that's about as much as they are interested in, but they are boys. Not sure how I will go when the toddler daughter becomes interested...
February 19, 2011 at 4:16 PM
Sandra said…
To try and encourage you all, the benefit of all the early agony is that by the time they are teenagers (and earlier) they are able to cook- we have just instituted a menu plan and roster so the kids are cooking at least twice a week.
We did purposely set up our kitchen so it was kid cooking friendly- we have a big island bench so it is easy to fit more than one person doing cutting, mixing etc.
February 20, 2011 at 1:52 PM
Sandra said…
however, I must point out that there are other aspects of domestic training where I have failed dismally - the kids can clean but they constantly leave a trail of mess wherever they go and seem, on the whole, to be totally oblivious to it. We then have the whole agonising clean up times where you turn your back and someone is goofing off on the computer, reading a book etc etc.....anything but focusing on the task in hand that if the whole family contributed would only take 30 minutes.
Just so none of you think in any way that I am one of those totally unbelievable paragons.
February 20, 2011 at 1:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Going grey at 40

-
Image
I have written about this before , but after broaching the subject on facebook a few weeks ago I've been thinking a lot about the whole colouring your hair deal.  On facebook I asked when having natural coloured hair was going to become trendy like other old fashioned things like quilting and growing your veges?  I am quite tired of how time consuming colouring my hair is and how expensive it is. A very interesting conversation resulted with a huge variety of opinions.  Many of the women said they would be going natural, but of course they aren't gray now (and are my age) so I don't think that really counts.  Until you ACTUALLY start going seriously gray/white you can't see how it impacts on the way you look.  I think it is different to be almost white (like myself) at age 40 and agreeing in principle to going natural when it happens to you in the future (when you will be a lot older than I am now!). Just quietly, I'll believe it when I see it (let me throw d
Read more

Confessions of an earl grey addict

-
Image
I have to confess in this public forum that I'm addicted to earl grey tea. I used to like the expensive stuff (Twinings) but because I drink so much of it, over the years I've had to buy the home brand version because I couldn't afford to sustain my habit. On Monday mornings I'd go to playgroup and have a cup of tea.  But one wasn't enough.  I'd have to go back for another. I'd visit a friend and enjoy the first cuppa.  But start to wonder if it too rude to ask for another, an hour into our visit. I don't have milk or sugar with it.  That just wrecks the purity of the experience.  I would branch out sometimes and enjoy Lady Grey or French Earl Grey for a treat.  But for everyday purposes my friend was the 'Earl'. But two weeks ago I went cold turkey.  I just decided that it was time to break the habit.  I have entered the world of herbal teas with all its strange flavours.  Peppermint (toothpaste dissolved in hot water).  Camomile (wee
Read more

Christmas memory creating

-
Image
This is OK I'm sure I've written about this before but every year I struggle with the pressure to be an uber mum and have some kind of Christmas craft decorating the house.  Instead I end up with a leaning Christmas tree that the kids have decorated themselves (certainly not going to make the cut for a Myer catalogue), with lights that drove the husband to distraction to untangle. There's a trend (especially in Christian circles) to create family traditions.  And I'm a total believer.  Good, healthy childhood memories and traditions have been shown to be very significant in developing high levels of security and resilience. But over time the memories/tradition trend seems to have developed into some kind of Pinterest Christmas competition.  No longer is the knitted nativity scene that Aunty Pip bought for us from the Mother's Union stall in 2003 enough.  It needs to be done by me.  And this is how my family will unite, bond and be functional. The problem i
Read more