Cooking is a life skill that everyone needs to learn. Unfortunately, some kids can grow into adults without learning how to cook. They depend on their parents to make everything for them, so it’s a real shock when they go to college or move out and have to do it all themselves.
Parents should encourage their children to be involved in the kitchen from a young age. Understandably, some kids couldn’t care less about cooking! So, how do you get them more excited about this? Here are a few ideas that work very well:
Bake with them
Baking is a brilliant way to introduce your children to the kitchen. It is definitely the most fun way that you can cook. Baking involves mixing loads of ingredients together, creating a mess, then enjoying some tasty treats after. Consequently, it has all the hallmarks of an activity your children will love! Start baking things like cookies or brownies and get your children to help. They’ll absolutely love it, and this encourages them to try other things in the kitchen with you too.
Create fun recipe posters
Inject more life and fun into the kitchen by creating your own recipe posters. This can easily be done by using poster templates and customizing them to include a recipe. You need a big picture of your delicious treat on the front, followed by basic instructions. Things like this can really help your children be more active in the kitchen. A poster is fun and easy to look at, but it also gives them ways to cook or bake on their own. Thus, you’re training them to be more independent and cook for themselves from a young age!
Let them choose what to make
Obviously, you want your kids to do more than just baking delicious sweet treats in the kitchen. Getting them to cook other meals with you can be a challenge as they don’t get the treat at the end. An easy way to counter this is by letting them choose what to make. Every week, set aside one day that’s your child’s cooking day. This is where they get to select any food they want – it could be pizza, spaghetti bolognese, burgers – anything. Then, you cook the food with them, teaching them as you go along. They’ll be excited because they get to eat their favorite food, but at the same time, they also learn how to cook this meal!
Reward them for cooking
When your child is able to cook, you can further encourage them to be involved in the kitchen by rewarding them. You know how you might pay your kids to cut the grass or do other chores around the house? Well, cooking the family meal could be another way to make pocket money. You’ve trained them well, and now they can make your food every so often!
It is extremely beneficial for your children to develop cooking skills from a young age. It sets them up for a healthier life as they won’t depend on takeaways or microwave meals when they’re older. These tactics will help you encourage your children to be more involved.
