It’s the end of December, which means only one thing:
Family gatherings. Long tables. Favorite dishes. Moments that slow us down and bring everyone together. It’s a special time, and for children, it’s also an amazing opportunity to practice their cooking skills.
Yes, even during the busiest meals of the year.
A Tale of Two Families
We read a story about a woman, let’s call her Katy, whose mom used to shoo her out of the kitchen when she was little. (Especially for important meals like for a holiday season, when she didn’t want kids under her feet.) And while her mother’s intentions might’ve been good, the results weren’t:
Katy didn’t learn to cook and didn’t have happy memories associated with the kitchen.
On the flip side:
Another woman we know told us how her little cousins were given the chance to help in the kitchen when Christmas dinner was held at their house. Yes, that first year the kitchen might’ve been a bit messier, but a few years later? Her cousins were doing side dishes by themselves.
The point:
Children will reach for whatever target you set them. Whether that’s keeping out of the kitchen or cooking in it is completely up to you.
If you’d like to help them do the latter this holiday season?
Here’s something to keep in mind:
No matter how children are, there’s always something a child can do to help out.
Children who are too young to hold a knife? Bring them on the grocery run and let them count out fruits and veggies and tick them off the list.
When they’re a bit older, young children can stir stuffing mixes, measure things, or grate cheese. By the time children hit age seven or eight, you’ve basically got your own little sous chef, who can peel carrots, mash potatoes, crack eggs, and prepare simple sides.
Older children?
Why not give them responsibility for cooking a more complicated side they’d love to eat?
Remember, there are recipes for every age too.
Sure, children aren’t going to be handling the most complicated tasks, but with enough creativity, there are “recipes”—as simple as laying crackers on a board—that even the smallest of kids can do themselves.
The mom who let her children plan (and cook) holiday dinner
Hannah, a mom of three, didn’t just get her kids involved at the big holiday family dinner but asked them to plan (and help cook) the entire meal!
“There are no rules,” she told them. They could pick whatever they wanted, as long as they were willing to help cook it. (Although she did draw the line when they requested “broccoli covered with chocolate” as the vegetable dish).
Was it a perfectly conventional meal?
No.
But her children learned a powerful lesson:
That cooking food that brings people together is something you can do at any age.
If you’d like to help students in your school district learn to cook, whether for holidays or otherwise, you can find out more about our afterschool cooking program with a free call with our team by clicking the link below:
Previous Newsletters:
The almost magical benefits of “ordinary” family dinners, Behind the scenes of filming recipes from LIFT Enrichment’s cookbooks, LIFT Enrichment and New York schools are teaching hundreds of children how to cook