Why You Should Cook With Your Kids

As I've mentioned, every week I teach a cooking class to youth aged anywhere from 6-12.  There have been moments filled with stress, joy, and everything in between.  Before I started, I knew next to nothing about working with elementary-age youth, and even less about teaching them cooking skills.  It's been about 8 months now, and there's a few things I'd like to say to those of you with kids.  Or if you don't have kids- grandchildren, nieces/nephews, babysitees, or future kids. (:

If you have young children (or old children), please have them help you cook.  Give them tasks and projects, let them explore and figure things out.  Let them help you plan meals and choose things at the store.  Cooking is the perfect place to start exposing them to a multitude of concepts and skills- critical thinking, measuring and math, cultural appreciation, creativity, understanding nature and the environment, and so on.  Not to mention getting them used to the idea (girls or boys) that home chores can be shared rather than being the "job" of one person- and they're fun to do together!  (and seriously, imagine how great it will be when you can ask your 10 year old to make that recipe of rolls for you and they don't even need any help)  It definitely requires more time and energy to delegate and teach than it does to do it yourself, but it's so worth the learning moments.  Cooking together gives both of you the chance to explore new foods, learn new techniques, ask questions, and bond.  It's also an opportunity to get them to articulate their dislikes and preferences.

Speaking of dislikes, when I started there were so many things I would never have anticipated that the kids didn't like... onion, garlic, cheese, NUTELLA... I am just so curious as to what's going on in their little mouths and minds when they decide they don't like those delicious things...

You might not think they're capable of much in the kitchen, but I promise, they'll surprise you.  It seems like every week in cooking class I'm like whoa, that actually turned out!  And I'm talking pastry crust... not just mac and cheese.  Resist the urge to take over and just do things for them... let them work through it.  You must accept that your food will definitely look less than perfect.  They will interpret your instructions in ways you could not have anticipated, and it will be messy and ugly and beautiful at the same time.  At the end, no matter what it looks like, they will be proud of what they've created and you will be too.

Stepping on a soap box now: please, please do not just limit them to "kid food".  At what other point in their life are they ever going to need to make a bear shaped mini pizza with olives eyes and a red pepper mouth?  Sometimes it's fun to show them that you can home-make things that usually come in a box, like mac and cheese and brownies, but more often I think this should be a time for helping them try new foods, showing them that vegetables can be incorporated into a delicious dish, and giving them real skills that can be carried into adulthood.

There are hot things and heavy things and there's a chance they'll get hurt.  But I bet they'll learn their way around things pretty quick.  If knives are something that concerns you, there are some child-safe versions you can buy online.  They're not great for some things (don't even attempt that butternut squash), but there are a lot of things they work for.

If you want to take it to the next level, involve them in the cooking and gardening process.  They'll be like: a seed contains a BABY PLANT?!  Mind blown. (when my kids saw a baby succulent, they asked "is it sleeping?!"... so cute).  And it's so true that they'll be more willing to try things that they've made and grown.

And if you feel adventurous enough to make a production of it, invite your friend's kids over and have a group cooking lesson.  If you babysit, this would be a great time-killing and productive activity.

To get you started, here are some kid tested and approved (mostly) recipes.  I'm lucky if I can get the kids out here to eat carrots, so these are all pretty like-able and low on the vegetable side. You'll have to come up with that kale and beet quinoa salad on your own. (hmmm... I just put random words together, but I think the earthiness of those ingredients would be interesting together... maybe a balsamic vinaigrette with some goat cheese on top... yum.)