Letting The Kids Help.

[Elementalmage]

My two kids are at the stage where they want to do everthing I do, especially in the kitchen. Trouble is that they are 4 and 5 years old respectively. When it comes to straight out dangers such as working with sharp tools, cooking oil, automated devices, I don't allow them near those things. But they want to help in the kitchen and sometimes they are happy just working up soap bubbles while 'doing the dishes.' It really is a bonding thing, despite that I have to clean up after them when they're done 'helping'.

 

[queenbellevue]

Something you can let them do is cleaning vegetables! Where I live, we get veg from the outside market, so obviously we need to clean them a bit before peeling and cooking. Now, maybe you get your groceries exclusively from supermarkets and such, but you could still let them do it to teach them the importance of food hygiene. The other thing that's always fun is baking. Lots of easy prep work (measuring out ingredients, mixing stuff, rolling out pie crusts, etc) AND you get baked goods afterwards. Win win.

 

[missbishi]

I think it's great to get kids involved in cooking. It helps them find out where their food actually comes from and they are much more likely to try new foods if they've played a part in making them.

 

[GadgetGuy]

My 11-year-old grand nephew doesn't just want to help with cooking meals.
He now literally takes over with the cooking!! Hah!! He loves to be the chef in the kitchen. In HIS culinary world where he mans the kitchen, while doing what he likes to do best!!
He's awesomely proud of what he likes to do. He wants to feel very important while doing a meal! His mom & dad let him cook as often as he wishes, making whatever he pleases, whenever he pleases.

When I'm there and want to cook something, he "throws" me out of the kitchen!! Hah!! Unless I make something that he has never made before. Even then, he still likes to get involved with it. He never passes up the opportunity to get in on the action! Anything that has to do with cooking & baking, he wants in, which is a good thing! His mind & heart is definitely into cooking. When he was here with me last summer, he wanted to do the cooking, so I let him, but under my watchful eyes - to help him avoid any accidents.

 

[JoanMcWench]

Just make it a point not to be afraid everything in the kitchen is a danger. It tends to detour them from participation. When my boy was younger & he first started showing interest in cooking it was because of the 'cool' gadgets in the kitchen. So, I always made it a point to allow him to use them under strict supervision. It helped him become immersed in the process & it helped me incorporate things into his diet he would have never tried.

 

[GadgetGuy]

The only thing that my grand nephew doesn't like, and it is not so much the dangers, it is the cleanup after the meals.
He hates doing it!! His mom & I had kindly explained to him that the cleanup goes along with, & is part of the cooking, and that if he washes things as he goes along with the cooking, that things will go a lot smoother & easier for him in the end. That he will have far less things to wash after the meals if he does it that way.

I often end up helping him with the cleanup because he at times, looks so pitiful and sad when the time comes to clean up the kitchen and wash the dirty things that he uses during the time that he cooks, as well as the dirty dishes from the meals. I just hate to see him sad!! I'm just an ole' softee for him and his siblings. Hah!!

 

[Berties]

I was asked by the local cub pack to help them do their cookery badge and I always start with safety ,slips ,trips ,cuts ,burns etc and it gets talked about all the time dangers and how to avoid them,safe knife use
My sons work with me at the restaurant ,they peel and cut purre prep and help do scallops,pin bone fish ,will act as a commis for loads of jobs,making marinades ,weighing ingredients
At home they did a cake a week for a local charity for their duke of Edinburgh award
So plenty of chances to introduce kids to food

 

[GadgetGuy]

I just sent a set of THESE safety knives to my grand nephew, since his parent feel uneasy with him using the regular knives when he cooks, for fear that he may cut himself.
This set of nylon knives are perfect for him, and it'll keep him from cutting himself at all! If anyone is interested, they can be ordered from Amazon.com.

 

[Berties]

View attachment 716


I just sent a set of THESE safety knives to my grand nephew, since his parent feel uneasy with him using the regular knives when he cooks, for fear that he may cut himself.
This set of nylon knives are perfect for him, and it'll keep him from cutting himself at all! If anyone is interested, they can be ordered from Amazon.com.

knife safety with kids is a must,is you worry about kids with knives they are great,in the uk you can get a knife similar that cuts lettuce ,as if you cut with a plastic knife it supposedly,stops leaves from going brown,the biggest amount of cut and lacerated injuries is off the cutter on the cling film.....i always promote safety on this as well as knives,as a danger

 

[GadgetGuy]

I have a lettuce knife.

 

[Autumn_Hearthwitch]

My son is 4 and he has been wanting to "help" in the kitchen more and more. I don't mind it at all and I want him to get a love for cooking/baking. Most of the time it's just him mixing something or if I'm making cookies and they need to be pushed down I give him a fork and tell him to go for it. I've repeated so many times that the oven/stove is hot that now even if it's not on he'll walk by and say "I can't touch that, it's hot". He knows not to use knives but the safety knives are a good idea. I generally give him a butter knife when he wants to cut something and make sure to supervise, there's no way I would leave him alone with one.

 

[GadgetGuy]

knife safety with kids is a must,is you worry about kids with knives they are great,in the uk you can get a knife similar that cuts lettuce ,as if you cut with a plastic knife it supposedly,stops leaves from going brown,the biggest amount of cut and lacerated injuries is off the cutter on the cling film.....i always promote safety on this as well as knives,as a danger

I was watching Chopped Junior yesterday as I have in the past, and the kids competing on the show were using regular knives to cut the food that they were preparing to cook. I wonder how they are able to use the knives & be fast with the prep work without cutting themselves.

They were working like trained professionals, as though they have excellent culinary skills!

 

[GadgetGuy]

My son is 4 and he has been wanting to "help" in the kitchen more and more. I don't mind it at all and I want him to get a love for cooking/baking. Most of the time it's just him mixing something or if I'm making cookies and they need to be pushed down I give him a fork and tell him to go for it. I've repeated so many times that the oven/stove is hot that now even if it's not on he'll walk by and say "I can't touch that, it's hot". He knows not to use knives but the safety knives are a good idea. I generally give him a butter knife when he wants to cut something and make sure to supervise, there's no way I would leave him alone with one.

Yes sir, safety knives are the best tools for your 4-year-old to begin his knife skills!

He will get a little better & better as he goes along. Have him help with the prepping of the foods that you're about to cook. And yeah, like you said, keep an eye on him. He knows very well now, to stay away form the hot stove. He's doing just fine, and he will catch on very easily as he goes along.

My12-year-old grand nephew can man the kitchen all by himself, and he has done it on many occasions, doing breakfast lunch & dinner on some weekends all on the same day.

He can master the art of cooking & baking very well, though he is not sure if he wants to pursue cooking as a career. But he DOES know his way around the kitchen very well!

When I go to visit him & his family, and he wants to cook, I now offer HIM some help! It used to be the other way around. He's still using the safety knives though, and he LOVES them!!

He has the best teachers in the business - his mom & dad!! They are now even showing him how to man the outdoor BBQ grill!! Very smart kid!!! He is very wise beyond his years and he excels very rapidly in school, receiving awards & programs for being one of the smartest kids in his class!! I am so proud of him!!

 

[Autumn_Hearthwitch]

@Shermie It's great that your grand nephew loves to cook. A very good skill in my eyes for anyone to have and it's great that kids take an interest. You should be very proud of him, he sounds like an outstanding young man and whether or not he wants to pursue cooking as a career at least he knows his way around a kitchen. I'll look for the safety knives for my son, he'll love them and will be able to help me in the kitchen even more.

 

[GadgetGuy]

@Shermie It's great that your grand nephew loves to cook. A very good skill in my eyes for anyone to have and it's great that kids take an interest. You should be very proud of him, he sounds like an outstanding young man and whether or not he wants to pursue cooking as a career at least he knows his way around a kitchen. I'll look for the safety knives for my son, he'll love them and will be able to help me in the kitchen even more.

Thanks! I AM proud of him. Very proud! At least, if some of the things that he's into does not work out right, he can always fall back on his "first love" - cooking for a living!

Here's another cute sweet member of the family who likes to help out in the kitchen! He seems to be saying in the 1st pic; "Come here & let me show you how to cook the right way.". In the 2nd pic, he seems to be counting something with his fingers on his left hand. Hah!! Standing on a chair so that he can get a boost to see what he's doing, he likes to "master his culinary skills" and get a bird's eye view of things! He may not be smiling in any of the pics, but he sincerely seems to enjoy what he's doing!!

He's another one of my grandnephews. He likes to get involved with cooking whenever he gets the chance to. I sincerely hope that he keeps it up and chooses it as his career when he gets older!! He's such a cute sweet little kid!!