Cooking Fun Teaches Life Lessons
By Nicole Dean
One of the most fun ways to spend time with your kids is by cooking meals together. You’ve got to prepare meals anyway, so you might as well have spend time with your kids. It’s better than cooking alone, right?
Cooking with kids not only is an easy way to spend quality time, it gives you the opportunity to teach the basic skills that your children will need as adults. There’s nothing sillier than a college student who doesn’t know how to bake a potato. These are simple life skills and are as important as math and reading, without a doubt.
How to do you incorporate cooking with your kids into your busy day? Start by finding some age-appropriate cookbooks. If your child is younger than 12, make sure the cookbooks have pictures and fun names for the recipes. There are thousands of children's cookbooks available so you can take your time and choose one you'll enjoy. Encourage your children to select the meals that appeal to them. Older children, can, if they choose, cook from an adult cookbook.
When your child serves the meal, take a picture of the proud look on his or her face. Invite a grandparent or relative over to enjoy the delicious meal and let your child show off her cooking skills.
Picnic: One of the easiest ways to teach basic cooking skills is to help your child make some sandwiches and eat them outside. Let your children choose the menu and make all the foods. Your job is to smile and eat the sandwiches, no matter how interesting they taste.
Some simple sandwich combinations are:
Cream Cheese & either Turkey or Ham on a Tortilla
Peanut Butter & Honey & Bananas on Raisin Bread
Bologna & American Cheese with Potato Chips on White Bread
I’m sure your child will come up with some creative combinations of his own. Have fun with it and enjoy!
Teddy Bear Tea Party: Grab the stuffed animals and treat them to a picnic or tea party. Allow your child to bake muffins or scones with your help. This is, not only a great way to teach food skills, it’s a wonderful opportunity to reinforce manners. Of course, teddy bears have excellent manners when enjoying tea and sandwiches and they always say “please” and “thank you”. You can serve the picnic on your living room floor if the weather is cold and miserable. That’s the beauty of teddy bears. They won’t mind!
These are only a few of the countless ways you can enjoy preparing foods with your children. Now, get cooking!
Nicole Dean invites you to http://www.ShowKidstheFun.com -- a free website filled with activities to make memories with your children. She also enjoys the service at http://www.Kid-Recipes.com – where you can find meal plans including breakfast and lunch recipes for kids.
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