Teaching your kids to love cooking

As parents we have to teach our children so much, so they grow into well rounded humans able to function in the real world. Some of these skills are educational and developmental. While others are more practical life skills, such as cooking.

I was asked by Worktop Express what my earliest food memories were. One of my earliest memories is cooking with my mum. We mainly baked together for the local riding club that I was a member of. Mum used to cater for the judges lunches. I can remember her making lots of quiches and gorgeous cakes every month. Obviously, I wanted to help her! I’m definitely no Nigella in the kitchen, but my love of baking I think stemmed from these days.

I think it’s so important that from an early age children learn to be around the preparation of food and also understand the basics of safe working in the kitchen. Primarily to keep them safe, but also to put them with the skills that they can develop over time and that will stand them in good stead in adulthood.

The pride they also display when they have created something that they can then go on to enjoy is plain for all to see. Such a great way to build self-esteem. Working in the kitchen can also be a huge confidence booster for children. They may be apprehensive about trying something, but under our guidance they can achieve it and their confidence then develops further.

I also think creating their own food, or having a hand in the creation can encourage children to be more adventurous with food. Which is always a good thing. I know Ava is always so keen to try her own creations!

There’s no doubt that having kids helping in the kitchen can on occasions be more challenging then cooking alone. It can definitely be messier and a little frustrating, but the benefits far outweigh these minor inconveniences. Studies have shown that children who learn to cook their own food grow up making healthier choices in terms of food that they eat. Rather than grabbing the processed food, there able to cook from scratch and provide healthier food for their own families in the future.

Let’s not forget that can be a lovely bonding experience to!

How you can start getting your kids involved in the kitchen;

First things first, there are a few things to bear in mind.

• Make peace with the mess

It WILL be messy. I know I can make enough mess all by myself, but add in a mini me and the kitchen will be covered with a film of flour or icing sugar for weeks.

• Pick kid-friendly recipe

Don’t set yourself up for failure or pick something so tricky that your kid will get bored and start whining. This will not help. Pick something tried and tested, that you already know the recipe, as it can be so hard to read when your little one is asking for the millionth time whether they can lick the spoon.

• Let them choose between two recipes

I don’t give Ava free rein or god knows what we would be eating, but I figure out two things we could make and that we have the ingredients for and then let her choose. This was she is more invested in the whole process.

• Know that things will go wrong

Things WILL go wrong at some point. Whether that is something ‘caramelising’ a bit too much as you were distracted by your kid trying to stick it’s head in the oven to check the progress of their creation or one of the many spillages that are bound to happen. Stuff will go wrong, make peace with that now. None of it really matters, it’s all about learning.

Here are some great tasks to get kids started in the kitchen

• Let them measure things
• Make their own cereal
• Wash the produce
• Tidy the kitchen
• Make their own lunch
• Mash & mix food
• Plan meals

It might seem like one more thing to cope with at the end of a busy day, but it’s so good for them to be involved. Starting to develop their own skills in the kitchen from an early age is really equipping them well for the rest of their lives.

Do your kids help in the kitchen? What tasks do they love to do?

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.