You’re a good parent. You value healthy eating and spending quality time with your children. So why is it such a struggle to cook with your kids? True, cooking with kids requires a lot of time and energy, but there are some mistakes that make it even more difficult.
Guiding their Hands
Have you ever found yourself in the kitchen, watching your kid about to pour and felt the instinct to reach out and just do it yourself? It would be much faster and cleaner. However, it also diminishes your child’s trust in their own abilities.
See the dad in the picture above? He is holding the child’s flour covered hands. Maybe he doesn’t want to wipe up sticky handprints, but using your own hands to guide a child is a stick no-no when cooking with them.
Try to stick to verbal cues and resist the urge to do it yourself. The more agency children have in the kitchen, the more they’ll enjoy being there.
Doing it For Them
So many errors in the above photo, but the most glaring is that the mom is cutting for the child (see how she covers the girl’s hand with her own?).
The best way to cook with kids is to allow them to explore various kitchen tools at their own pace. So if you’re expecting perfectly sliced peppers, then you should just do it yourself. You can offer children appropriate knives and things to cut and then stand back!
Not to mention that the mom is holding the knife incorrectly, and hovering. It’s not safe to cut while someone is standing behind you like that. This is not good kitchen safety or modeling of respecting personal space.
Cracking Eggs
Once again, the parent is doing for the child instead of allowing the child to try this skill themselves. It robs kids of the chance to master a new skill and build their confidence, but there’s a lot more going on here.
This is NOT how to crack an egg. First of all, cracking directly into the bowl is just asking for pieces of eggshell to get into your food. So never crack directly into the bowl.
The correct way to crack an egg is to hold the egg in the middle and tap once against a flat surface. Then slowly pull the two halves apart and crack the egg into a small container. You can see a demo here.
Measuring Into the Bowl
Just no. Don’t do this. It’s asking for your child to make a mistake which can make dinner taste bad and make your child feel awful.
When your child is measuring have them do it into a separate container. That’s good advice to everyone, but especially for kids, who may not be that good at measuring yet.
This way, if they get it wrong, you can simply have them try again. Once they have the correct amount in a separate container, they can add that in with the rest of the ingredients.
Here’s how we teach measuring in our meal kits.
Using Tool Together
The same, but different enough that it deserves it’s own section. Do not hold onto tools with your child! Give them the tool and the space to explore with it. You can also give them a demonstration of how to use each tool, but the most important thing is that they get to use it themselves.
What about safety? Shouldn’t a child have some adult guidance if they’re working over a flame, or a grill?
NO!
If the child isn’t ready to be around hot surfaces alone, then do not put them in that situation. There is plenty that a child can do in the kitchen that does not require being around heating sources.
How do you know if they’re ready? Well, if you feel confident that you could give them the tools and then stand back, then they’re ready. If you’re nervous that they’ll hurt themselves or burn down the house, then better to wait.
What To Do With Kids In The Kitchen
The best thing to do is create a safe place where kids are free to explore with ingredients and tools. The means not hovering, not taking things away from them and definitely not doing everything yourself.
Also, prepare as best you can to limit messes and errors. That way you don’t need to stress as much and your kids will have a much better time cooking.
