Top 5 Reasons to Cook with Kids
Cooking with kids has so many benefits. I find it’s a great way to spend quality time with my daughter, nurture her appreciation of food and, best of all, make some great dishes. I can’t wait until my twins are older. We could almost have a catering team right under one roof if they get the baking bug.
Here are the top five reasons to cook with kids:
- It encourages kids to eat healthy food. Kids are much more likely to eat what they’ve prepared. Cooking with kids doesn’t always have to mean making fun kid stuff like cookies and cakes. It’s also great to involve children in making everyday meals. They gain an appreciation for the steps involved in making meals. It gives them a chance to stop and think about the elements of the food they eat.
- It’s bonding time. Time spent cooking with your kid is time well spent. You communicate about the steps involved, work together as a team to accomplish tasks, and you get to show off, brag about, and taste your creations.
- It nurtures kids’ creativity. It takes a lot of creativity to take a recipe from start to finish with flair. Better yet, if you encourage your kid to improvise and alter the recipes with you, you can help them develop their creativity and skills.
- It teaches kids. Math, reading, problem solving — these are just a few of the lessons learned while cooking. Just the simple task of following instructions from start to finish is valuable for children, and provides benefits even for those kids who don’t read or do math yet.
- It’s fun! This is probably the best reason to cook with kids. It’s enjoyable for parents, and it’s enjoyable for kids.
Photo of girl with coconut © Hagit M.
My 3 year old daughter loves helping me cook dinner and because it is often close to dinner time and she is getting hungry I chop all the vegies first and she is happy to graze on them whilst helping. This has been a great way to introduce different vegetables and also reduces the stress at dinner getting her to eat vegies. Also she is now a whizz at breaking eggs.
Interesting my 5 year old son is not that keen on helping cook dinner but loves to watch cooking shows with me, particularly Nigella and the boys from Surfing the Menu (an Aussie production) and then we pick a recipe we have seen and try to cook it in the next couple of days and he insists on helping this time. However when Nigella cooked ‘pea and mozeralla soup’ he suggested not to make that for him!