Nov 23, 20203 min read

Cookin' with your kiddos!

Every Mom's taboo is what to cook for dinner?! It might be one of the worst parts of growing up. With Thanksgiving coming up and many of us staying home (Thanks COVID!) the frustration is real, especially while the kiddos are runnin' around in the background doing lord knows what. Cooking doesn't have to be so bad, even if you try to include your little crazies in the mix too! Kids LOVE to be in the kitchen, at the right time, at the wrong time, helping with dinner, breaking dishes and all of the above. They always seem to be right at your feet while your cookin' up a storm. Why not try to include them! I know, I know, its a mess, it takes twice as long and lets face it, they are germy no matter how many times they wash their hands. BUT! It really can also be a great experience, if we as parents (or aunts, uncles, cousins, whatever we are) just relaxxxxxx a little bit and include them. Check out these benefits to having your little ones help out while in the kitchen!

5 Benefits of cooking with your kiddos!

Practicing Fine motor skills: Fine motor skills (skills that involve your hands, wrists, and fingers) are crucial to so many things we do in life. These skills are critical for writing, typing, using utensils, opening things, and pretty much anything else you can think of! I mean how often do you use your fingers?! Cooking is unique in that there are so many different fine motor skills at play here: stirring, dumping things into a bowl, cracking eggs, opening packages, etc. Let’s get those little muscles working right!
Develop reading and language skills: Whether your kiddo is reading or not, seeing the words in front of them can help in their language development, we as educators call this creating a print rich environment. If your kiddo is already reading, let them read the recipe to you to get a little extra practice in. If they aren’t reading yet, you can read the recipe out loud. Either way, being exposed to the words in the recipe is great for a child’s vocabulary (and yours too)!
Introducing Science/Math Concepts: How cool is cooking? Like really stop to think about it… so many cool things happen. You take a soupy mess, add heat, and it turns into something delicious! That’s science and math! It’s such a fun way to introduce your kiddos to measurements, chemical reactions, sorting, trial and error, and so many other concepts important to everyone’s (not so) favorite school topics...
Teaches life skills and boosts self confidence: Knowing how to cook is such a great thing as an adult. I am so thankful that my mom, grandma, great-grandma, aunts, and cousins (there’s that village we talked about!) took the time to teach me how to cook. It seems so simple to follow a recipe but it’s not always that easy. Let your kiddos help you cook, if nothing else, just to get them practice. It also teaches kiddos various safety lessons about what things get hot, what things are sharp, what things will pop grease at you and burn... still working on that one myself haha! Also, your kiddos will enjoy a bit of independence when they know how to make their own toast, cereal, mac and cheese, and so on. So. Many. Life. Skills.
Family bonding time: This is the biggest one and that’s saying something since the other reasons are all so amazing! Cooking is something you do (in theory) every single day (tired of adulting yet?!). Of course it’s easier without their help and it goes quicker, but why not let them help? Why miss out on this extra 30 minutes of spending time with your kiddo? It doesn’t have to be everyday but aren’t we all looking for a little more meaningful family time (unless you've been quarnatining for lord knows how long then you may be ready to ship 'em off to boarding school, again, no judgement here!)? How great will it be in 10 years to look back at pictures of you and your kiddos having fun making dinner together? They will make a mess, make it take longer, and you may need wine, but let’s try to commit to once a week errrr... a month… baby steps and no judgement!