a fifo wife {a fifo life: how to: start your kids cooking in the kitchen}

My children all started pottering in the kitchen when as soon as they could walk. So it’s now with the eldest being nine they are often in charge of making dinner {dinner being their signature dish}. I thank my lucky stars that I was patient enough to continue with my lack of patience with them in the kitchen. Good things come to those that grit their teeth right?

The benefits of cooking is not only measuring, math, science, good food knowledge but independence. Knowing that they are capable to fend for themselves and for me in a pinch such as a few weeks ago when a cold took me down adds a certain amount of relief to this whole parenting gig. The other benefit which comes naturally is the conversations, the conversations I have had with my boys whilst beating eggs will never be forgotten.

Currently, their signature dishes are useful indicators of their age and abilities in the kitchen. B1 is currently the master of Spaghetti Bolognese so he does some knife work and a fair amount of heat work. B2 loves a good Beef Pho Soup so it’s mainly just putting things in a stock pot, stirring and a little breaking of ingredients. While B3’s interest in cooking has just begun with omelette so cracking of eggs stirring and pouring.

B1 is the most interested in cooking and so there are rules enforced on what can and can’t be done in the kitchen without us. He can cook pop corn without us but with permission {from scratch with popping corn} so long as someone is in the house its straight forward so we trust him to be careful. He can cook dinner but all knife work must be supervised. His motor skills while are good still need to be monitored.

Suffice to say we started them young in fact it was probably around 12 months that we started them in the kitchen slowly increasing their involvement and use of utensils. Now they are all fairly proficient in the kitchen so a few tips on introducing kids to cooking.

1. Have realistic expectations. They have attention spans of less than five minutes when they are young and their motor skills are developing so be realistic in that they will lose interest and they will make a mess.
2. If they are very young like my boys have them sit on the bench and watch you are doing encouraging them to crack eggs, stir, sift and pour ingredients into tins as you go {mixes that are at room temperature always}. You be the judge of what your children are capable of doing.
3. Create something simple. We started off with French Toast there is lots of mixing, cracking and dipping. But my mother started me off with pikelets.
4. The boys started using knives between 5-7. B3 is 6 and has just started using knives {blunt dinner knives} with cheese. Start their knife work with dinner knives of the blunt kind and soft cheese {philly cheese} again French Toast is perfect for this. Knife work should always be carefully supervised.
5. Use oversized mixing bowls with cloths underneath to allow for spillage.
6. Buy them their own cook books. My first cook book was when I was 7. I still have it as does my husband have his. Both of us were taught to cook young. My mother taught me and my husbands grandmother insisted that it was one skill that all her five grandchildren learnt before leaving her home for the big wide world so amongst cooking, sewing learning to dance was the other high on her list.
7. Encourage them to have a signature dish and if they have siblings make sure that its different from each other. My boys are so proud of being able to make something of their very own, different from their brothers.
8. Make sure the kitchen is a safe environment so no overhanging pot handles, things that can be tripped on or hot items grabbed.
9. Teach them what to do if they burn themselves or cut themselves with a knife.
10. Make sure you teach them hot to handle a grease fire in the kitchen encourage them to find you but teaching them what to do isn’t a bad thing. In case you don’t know head here .
11. Encourage or drill into them to clean as they go..their partners later in life will swoon.

** All of these are based on the capabilities of my children and since your children are unique they are therefore are different to mine. Please use your common sense when working with your children in the kitchen. This is meant as a guide only.**

Happy cooking and may your patience be with you.

X Deb