Help me cook WITH my kids

[Rosehip]

I really like to cook, and do much of it from scratch. I spend half the time chasing the kids out of the kitchen. I would really like to get them involved but don't know how to in a way that 1. isn't too dangerous 2. isn't too insanely annoying 3. lets me get dinner on the table in a somewhat reasonable time frame.

They are 2 & 4 (will be 5 & 3 in January). The 4 yo is pretty good, and if the LO is asleep, I'm happy to have her in the kitchen. If he's up & about, I don't know how to manage with him too. I am single and we live with my parents. My parents are not going to keep the 2 yo occupied, so it's either both of them or neither. If the older one is in the kitchen, he'll follow unless someone is actively engaging him in something else.

Any ideas? I really think it's important to teach kitchen & cooking skills, I'm just at my wit's end about how to manage them.

[AngelBee]

I have wanted to incorporate this for some time but have not yet found a way to make it work well.

So

[jrabbit]

can you give them playdo and cookie cutters to play with at the kitchen table or at the counter? my kids will play "food" with playdo for hours! (well, not so much anymore, but they are now 5.5 & 10) I prefer to make my own playdo, by the way, using a recipe with koolaid - smells much nicer than store-bought.

[lil_earthmomma]

I let them help for parts and then I'll say "ok, go play and mommy will call you when it's time to... ________" So usually we start by getting everything out we will need. I hand them the stuff and they walk it to the table. (Yes this takes longer but no biggie) then we measure and stir, or if we're prepping for supper we measure and cut. My two year old gets a butter knife, cutting board and some veggie to slice and dice to his hearts content and the 1 yr old gets to chew on some carrot or whatever! I also get the two year old to grate cheese, mix stuff and set the table.

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by AngelBee

I have wanted to incorporate this for some time but have not yet found a way to make it work well.

So

[nathansmum]

If you are rinsing grains they can do it for you in big bowls.

If you've peeled veges that then need a rinse off they could do that.

My kids from about age 3 have learnt to chop leafy greens and both use little sharp vegetable knives now.

They like to flick through cookbooks while in the kitchen.

Going out and picking herbs for dinner.

Generally just naming all the vegetables that you're working with and why you're doing what you're doing.

Setting the table with cutlery.

Peeling carrots works from around age 3 here.

General play in the kitchen to be that environment but not necessarily doing anything "cooking" could be playing in a drawer with plastic containers and such. Playdough up on the bench. "Washing" in the sink with soapy water. Unloading the dishwasher with things you're ok with (I always started with the cutlery basket with any little knives removed and their plastics that are stored in a kid-height drawer rather than with adult things).

I try and avoid baking with them as I find it incredibly stressful with them grabbing at and out-competing each other on who's going to do what - but generally dinner cooking seems to be fine.

I also avoid trying to get them involved when I'm in a rush - that just causes me to be distracted, not in the mood for thinking what they can do to help or whether I have the time to spend showing them what to do. To me, it needs to be a slow interactive fun activity that is fun and quality time together.

My 6yr old is now capable of cooking simple things (banana pancakes - just a mashed banana and an egg and frying them up) on his own or heating up leftovers in a pot.

[elmh23]

I can really only make bread and other bread like products (pancakes) with my kids. I measure things out and give it to them to dump in the bowl. Now that my daughter is 5, I'm working with her on measuring some things.

Somehow my husband can cook anything with the kids helping. He's teaching my daughter to use a knife (no way in HELL would I do that, but whatever) and to cook things on the stove or in the skillet. I'm not sure how he stays sane doing it

[LaughingHyena]

I find cooking a meal with both children to be challenging since we have a deadline and they are not at there best when they are hungry (ie just before a meal) Baking as an activity with them is much less stressful.

At 3 & 5 I can leave them spooning muffin batter into the tins or rolling balls of cookie dough and putting them on a tray while I do a quick meal. They get to serve desert.

Some jobs they like are
peeling hard boiled eggs
peeling onions

my 5 year old can peel carrots or potatoes (very slowly )
chop soft veggies/fruit

They both know where things are in the kitchen and will often get them out for me.

Chopping mushrooms with a wire egg slicer is one job children seem to love, however we don't own an egg slicer and don't eat many mushrooms

[velochic]

I would find some things that may not contribute to the meal, but occupy the younger child. Like a little dough ball of just flour and water to roll out and knead, etc. A small child can also tear lettuce for salad or do something small and tedious like pull the leaves off of thyme branches or rosemary. From a young age, dd had her hands in the dirt of our herb garden, so she has some ownership that really helps when in the kitchen. I think as they get older, they can do things like peeling potatoes and now, at 7, dd has been doing some dicing for almost 2 years. Just teach about keeping the fingertips in, slicing straight down and proper holding/balance of a good, sharp knife. Dull knives are dangerous and I would never let her handle one thinking it wouldn't cut her. I realize that part of the issue is occupying 2 kids at once. I've never had to deal with that, so I don't think I have any good advice regarding that.

However, something that I have done many times and seems to be effective is to have the kiddo working on ingredients for TOMORROW night's dinner. So, you can get through the prep fast for that night and the child is still able to participate. So, if I know I'm going to need some potatoes for tomorrow night, I'll have dd work on that, store in the fridge in water (so they don't oxidize) and they're ready to go the next day. Or to have them clean lettuce because tomorrow you are going to have a salad.

Another idea is to have them work on the appetizer or dessert and not the entree.

Good luck!

[Alyantavid]

Washing veggies

Stirring anything

Putting cut up veggies in pans

Setting the table

Washing dishes after I cook with them

My now 3 year old loves to peel garlic. Works out well because it's not one of my favorite jobs. We also had a drawer when they were younger full of bowls, pots, pans, whatever, and they'd happily play with that while I cooked.

[kjbrown92]

My 4 year old has been stirring for a couple of years, putting muffin papers in the tins, grinding nuts in the nut grinder. I'll pour things into measuring spoons and then she tips it into the mixing bowl. She likes shaping meatballs (but it's messy). For the younger one, can you let him play with some tupperware in the kitchen so that he's occupied? Also, think about doing some crockpot meals on some days so that you don't have so much prep right before dinner. I often make the salad in the middle of the afternoon and stick it in the fridge, because that's when I have some quiet time. My 4yo also sets the table, and empties the plastic stuff and the silverware from the dishwasher (something else to do in the kitchen).

[425lisamarie]

Originally Posted by lil_earthmomma

I let them help for parts and then I'll say "ok, go play and mommy will call you when it's time to... ________" So usually we start by getting everything out we will need. I hand them the stuff and they walk it to the table. (Yes this takes longer but no biggie) then we measure and stir, or if we're prepping for supper we measure and cut. My two year old gets a butter knife, cutting board and some veggie to slice and dice to his hearts content and the 1 yr old gets to chew on some carrot or whatever! I also get the two year old to grate cheese, mix stuff and set the table.

You are so sweet, i wish you could be by real life friend LOL! I used to do this with DS and a butter knife. I would give him like a piece of banana, a few berries to make a fruit salad with dinner. He'd cut them up SO carefully and happily eat it after. Now that mine are 3.5 and 5.5 I use cooking as a good way to learn several things. I cook with a scale a lot, so we talk about different weights of things, how 1 cup of flour looks/weighs so much less than 1 cup of water, things like that. Actually sometimes they get in to that so much that I move the scale over to their little table and they take turns getting things and weighing them together. I do'nt mind so long as they don't waste. I need my own space on the counter but I do have a very large kitchen so it makes it a little easier. They have a table of their own in the kitchen so often I drag it a little closer to me and let them do stuff there. Also, any time i am making any kind of bread, pizza, noodles, etc. I always give them each a little chunk of it to do whatever they want with. It's CHEAP to make dough, and a little goes a long way and they just love making pretzel twists, different shapes etc. They could spend the entire time i'm cooking rolling out breaking off pieces and shaping one little piece of dough. Of course we still bake their work and they usually like to dip it in something with dinner. I do NOT announce i'm doing anything in the kitchen until I've already snuck in and pre prepped some things or gotten fully organized and ready. Scrubbing potatoes is a fun thing for kids too

And if it' s just impossible one day or it's just not workin out, I'm SO not above giving them a trader joe's sucker and sending them off to play : We aren't big on TV but this is one time I'm ok with it LOL.

[Shakti77]

So many wonderful ideas there!! Thanks for sharing them! My DD is 3 yrs 2 months now and have been helping in the kitchen since she was a bit less than 2 yrs.

I measure, she pours for breads, muffins, cookies, pancakes, rice.... I also let her knead the bread and the roti dough too. We take turns in mixing the dry items together and wet items together. I pour the wet items into the dry items and then I mix, she gets a real quick mixing turn this time. She puts the silicone muffin cups in the muffin pan and I spoon it in. Maybe I should let her spoon it in now that she's grown up a bit. When we make cookies, I roll them into small balls and put them on the tray, she presses them flat with a fork or with her palm depending on my cue. If we are rolling the cookie balls into something like sugar, she gets to do that. she also helps to brush milk or egg wash on the bread and sprinkles seeds or oats on the top before baking. And oh, since 'she' made these, she helps eat these up real quick.

Sometimes I let her stir, if there's nothing on the stovetop that will splash. She loves doing that. She pulls her stool next to the stove and asks if she can stir.

In my previous kitchen, where we had more counter space, she'd help rolling the roti dough.. It started with her playing with the dough for an hour...soo, she started rolling them quite even to my surprise. She misses doing that after we moved to this tiny kitchen.

She loves rinsing veggies and fruits. I give her a bowl of water and some fruits or veggies. she washes them real nice and puts them in a colander. She also 'washes' dishes in the sink, I turn on the water really thin and let her have a go at it. She measures and pours water to her hearts content. Since space is premium here, I let her do this in this kitchen, only when I won't be hovering over the stove. This used to be so much fun for her [and me] in my previous apartment kitchen.

After reading this thread, Prepping the salad, the fruit salad, shaping the pretzels etc are things I'm going to let her try soon.

I haven't let her use the knife yet, but she's showing interest in it and brings her plastic play knife to chop mushrooms. Maybe I will give her the butter knife or egg slicer instead and let her enjoy that too. [She loves slicing the eggs!!!] So many new ideas to try, thanks!!

[snowbunny]

DS (4) loves to help in the kitchen. I plan extra time on the weekends for bigger projects and have him press the buttons on the food processor, blender, kitchenaid etc. I have him set the table, stir the soup pot, rinse the veggies and fruit, shape cookies, roll out dough. I also have him prepare our greens and herbs by tearing the leaves from the stems.

If I'm working on something that is complicated or more dangerous than I'm comfortable with, I'll prepare a little dough for him to roll and play with. That keeps him well-occupied. I've done that since he was very, very little.

A couple times a month, I also let him decide what we're going to eat and sort of take charge in the kitchen. Last time he made soup with broth, noodles, kale, carrots and onions.