Moving through Midlife | Habit Stack & Movement Snacks for Midlife Moms, Parenting in Midlife | Fitness over 40

Ep 9: Kids in the Kitchen

June 28, 2021 Courtney McManus Episode 9
Moving through Midlife | Habit Stack & Movement Snacks for Midlife Moms, Parenting in Midlife | Fitness over 40
Ep 9: Kids in the Kitchen
Moving through Midlife
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Show Notes Transcript

Having your children help in the kitchen is one of the best ways for them to become adventures eaters.  The more they are surrounded by different foods and interacting with them through the cooking process the more likely they are to actually try the foods being set down in front of them at the dinner table, and this can be started at a very young age.  It is also a great way for them to work on skills that are needed in life.

Here are some ideas to help you to get your children involved in the kitchen.

Toddler- get a Learning Tower so they can join you at the counter and help pour pre-measured ingredients into mixing bowls.  Don't want to spend the money on a Learning Tower, set them at your dining room table with a bowl filled with some spices and have them mix them, it's always fun to have them smell each of them before they put them into the bowl and even allowing them to taste them if they are curious.  Let them snap the ends off of green beans and asparagus as this is always a fun thing for them at this age.  Even pulling the silk off of corn can be done at this age.  Let them also put the finishing touches on the food by sprinkling a little bit of salt and pepper on everything before it goes into the oven or onto the cook top.

Ages 4-8 - This is a great age for them to begin learning how to whisk and stir batters.  have them practice cutting up fruit and vegetables with a small pairing knife (my daughter always loved chopping the tops off of the strawberries), tearing the lettuce to go into the salad and tossing all of the ingredients together, setting the table, clearing the table, and learning how to unload the dishwasher.  Kids knife set

Ages 9-12 - Great age for them to start becoming more involved with helping in the kitchen and starting to cook basic meals independently. There are many subscription services that send a box each month to kids that include recipes and a fun kitchen utensil, we love Kidstir for this. You can also have them find recipes in cookbooks or online they want to try. Once they pick it out have them write out the ingredients they need from the store. Once you have everything be on the sidelines ready to assist as needed.

Ages 12+ - they should be able to independently make easy meals for themselves including making a sandwich, eggs, pasta, and macaroni and cheese. Have them help make the side dishes or even give them a night to be head chef! As they get older and more comfortable then the recipes can become more complex.  

​The key is to make it fun, don't act as if it is a chore for them to do or you will automatically get push back from them.  We have found that watching cooking/baking competitions help our children to get into the kitchen more.  My children love doing competitions in the summer where they each make a dessert, we have the grandparents over for dinner, and then we all judge which one was the best.  Now that they are older we have started to place each one in charge of dinner one night a week; this is fun for them as they are in complete control with what is being served, the preparation of the meal, and then the adults do the clean up.  

Head to Form Fit Mom Community on Facebook to let us know what you are doing with your children in the kitchen.

Head to raising_healthyhumans.com on IG to see some of the things we ar

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episode nine kids in the kitchen. Last week, I had mentioned that having kids in the kitchen helping you cook helps them to be less picky eaters. And many times we'll have them trying new foods, especially your fruits and vegetables. So this week, I wanted to quickly go over how you can help your children at any age get into the kitchen more. So having your children help in the kitchen is one of the best ways for them to become adventurous eaters, the more they are surrounded by the different foods and interacting with them through the cooking process, the more likely they are to actually try the foods being sat down in front of them at the dinner table. And this can be started at a very young age. So as a toddler, you might want to think about getting a learning tower, which you can find on Amazon, so that they can join you at the counter and help poor pre measured ingredients into mixing bowls. If you don't want to spend the money on a learning tower, have them at the dining room table with a bowl filled with some spices, and they don't even have to have anything specifically for what you're making, they're not going to know. So give them a few spices, let them smell them, and then have them add them to a bowl and then tell them that they need to mix them up. That's one way where they're starting to get involved in the kitchen playing with the different items that herbs smelling different smells than what they might be used to smelling and providing them with different experiences. And sometimes even just having them taste some of the spices as well is something fun for them to do. Another one that we have always done with all of our children is at a very young age, they were able to start snapping off the ends of the green beans and asparagus and putting them in the pot or on the roasting pan. If you are a family that eats corn, they can even pulled the silk off of the corn at this age, that's usually a fun task for them as well. And then let them put the finishing touches on the food. So even if you already have the meal prepared, you can have them sprinkle especially with their little fingers. sprinkling a little bit of salt and pepper on to the food to finish it off at the end might make all the difference in whether or not they tried that meal at the dinner table. I would say the biggest thing for your toddlers is just getting them familiar with different things, letting them smell different fruits and vegetables and spices, letting them taste some of the things they can taste them raw prior to being cooked. Or like I mentioned with the spices, letting them taste the different spices separate prior to putting them all together and then have the next two or three ingredients together. I mean I think like a taco seasoning. That's usually just garlic powder, cumin, paprika, red pepper, salt and pepper I might be out in oregano is what I usually do. So have them mix a few of those like, you know, it could even be just a quarter teaspoon, have the mix a few of those and then taste them all together so they can taste what it tastes like. So that's what I would recommend just helping them to start getting used to the different flavors and then also the different equipment, the bowls, the spoons, the teaspoons, things like that. So once we move on to four to eight year olds, this is a great age for them to begin learning how to whisk and stir batters and sauces. You can have them practice cutting up fruits and vegetables with a small paring knife. I also have these kitchen knives that are safe for children they are plastic, they will slice through many of your fruits and vegetables but they will not slice through fingers, which I will put a link for you in the show notes if you're interested and I will also post a picture of them on our Instagram page at raising underscore healthy humans. One thing that my daughter has always loved doing is she loves to chop the tops off of the strawberries. So that is one test that she had at a very young age can have them tear the lettuce to go into the salad and tossing all of the ingredients together. So even if you don't feel comfortable with them, chopping the ingredients, you can chop all the ingredients for a salad, and then have them work on mixing it all together. If you are wanting to put dressing on the salad before you put it on the dinner table, rather than having people put it on themselves, you could do that as well. Another thing that you might want to have them do is they can help set the table, clear the table and learn how to load and unload the dishwasher. These are very important tasks that all children need to learn how to do so at this four to eight years of age. So this is a great time for them to start getting in the kitchen and experimenting a little bit more. So maybe you might want to have them start getting creative with some of the seasonings and spices themselves and having them taste them and put together three or four different spices to use where they're the ones creating the topping the seasoning for the meal. So like the chicken or something, this is really a time that you want them in the kitchen. So you'll have them working alongside you as a sous chef. And helping you prepare things you can have them doing some of the everyday tasks that you need done, allowing them to have some creativity and then depending on how your personal house runs and your comfort level, even allowing them to try to create something on their own. I would say usually baking is a little bit I don't want to say easier because you do need to look at a recipe. But I feel like that is something I am more comfortable with my children doing is some basic muffins are something where they look at the recipe book, I'm there to help guide them and help them with areas that they are struggling in. But they are learning how to read the recipes. This would obviously be a little bit older than the four but more around that eight years old and starting to help and work on creating the meal themselves or the muffins themselves. Once they hit that nine to 12 year mark. This is a great age for them to start becoming more involved with the helping in the kitchen, where you they are starting to take on some of the skills independently. And then also learning how to cook some basic meals for themselves. So there are many subscription services that send a box each month to kids that include recipes and a fun kitchen utensil. One of our favorite ones is called kid stir. And they always have really cute ideas. One of the ones my daughter recently received was for a lot cuz homemade eggnog and tamale pie. So they gave her the recipes for each of these. And then she received a spatula in her kids stir box. So those are great ideas. I know there's a few other cooking boxes that you might be interested in trying as well. There are a lot of fun for them. They are providing them opportunities to cook different recipes and try new things and then you know you're there to help them help guide them but it's a great opportunity for them to really start doing things more independently. If you don't have something like this you can also grab a cookbook or have them go look on Pinterest and have them find recipes that they are interested in trying. Once they pick it out, have them write out the ingredients they need from the store. You all can decide whether or not you want to go to the store together and once you have everything you're on the sidelines ready to assist as needed. One tip that I have found to make it a lot easier for my children is I will make sure that I place everything out on the countertop that they are going to need for their meal so they have everything out. And then as they go through each item, then we work on putting it away rather than leaving it out but having an out to begin with helps them to not forget to add that item and you know there's going to be mistakes things are going to happen. But this is one of the best ways for my children to get involved in the kitchen here in my household and something you might enjoy doing as well. Once they have reached the age of 12. They should be able to independently make some of the easier meals like sandwiches, eggs, scrambled eggs, pasta, macaroni and cheese. These are things they should be able to start to make. You can have them help make the side dishes For meals, or even give them a night to be the head chef, that is one thing my children enjoy doing is they will pick out the recipes that they are going to make for dinner. And they will create the whole meal and it gives me a night off from having to cook. So it's a win win for us both. And as they get a little bit older and age, you can really work with them on helping them have more complex recipes. And I think this is one of those things where your children will kind of let you know what they're interested in doing. Some are really going to love it and want to create more my middle son had gotten to where he was wanting to bake, and he would just get in the kitchen, and he would just bake up different things. Did they all taste good? No. But that was something he enjoyed doing. So really allow them that opportunity to play and get comfortable in the kitchen. And you might see some really great things they might be able to make meals for you each evening. No matter the age of your children. The key to getting them into the kitchen is to make sure it is fun. Don't act as if it is a chore for them to do or you will automatically get pushback from them have fun with it. We have found that watching cooking and baking competitions, help our children to get into the kitchen more they see other people doing different activities, and it makes them want to try them as well. My children loved watching the Great British baking show. And they decided one summer that they were going to start competing against each other. So they would each pick. And they would do it similarly to the show where they would each pick a muffin, and then they would make the muffin. And then that evening after dinner, we would taste each of the items and we would judge. And it's a nice thing to where you could maybe have the grandparents come over and make it a fun experience for everybody involved since you're going to have a lot of desserts left. But we've done that with muffins and cakes and pies and really all types of stuff cookies, that was another one. But you know have fun with it, let them kind of guide you as to what they want to do. And you may see that one of them or a few of them really enjoy it and are able to help make some healthy meals as they start to get older. So my recommendation would be to help your kids get into the kitchen. One you're providing them with an experience to help them try new things to you are providing them the opportunity to start to learn how to make meals for themselves so that when they go off, they can live a healthier life because they now know how to make meals for themselves rather than relying on fast food. And three, it can help you in your house. One of the biggest things I hear people say is that they don't have time to make healthy meals. But if you have a child at home, maybe that child can help get food started. Maybe they can be the one prepping chopping everything up prior to you getting home so that when you get home, you can start cooking everything. So that is my thoughts on helping kids in the kitchen. If you have any ideas I'd really love to hear from you what you're doing in your household. How are your kids getting in the kitchen, do you have any fun new ways of having them get in the kitchen and cook different meals. And as always make sure to head to our form fit mom community where we will be sharing information there as well. Make sure to also head to Instagram raising underscore healthy humans for pictures of some of the things that we have done in our household. And just have fun with that. Get those kids in the kitchen to help you start making those healthy meals.