Get your children involved in the kitchen :)

Children need to be hands on so that they fully experience and understand why eating healthy is so important to living a fulfilling life. They have to know how to take care of themselves and more important we need to teach them how to teach others so that they may continue to pass it down to generations to follow. That way maybe our world will be around for some others to enjoy.

FIVE WAYS TO GET YOUR CHILD INVOLVED

1.     Start by letting your child tag along to the farmers market and grocery store with you.

They need to get familiar and comfortable with both of these places. They also need to understand the difference. Once they get comfortable it is good for them to interact with the farmers. They need to see you doing the same and asking some of the important questions. After all children do their best learning by observing. This may seem like a pain in the butt and no I don’t have any children of my own, but I have been to a grocery store with kids, around kids, and I once was a kid. I remember how dreadful my mother made it seem to take us into the store with her. Lets remember though it is for their own good and it also allows you time with your child teaching them something priceless. Something that one day, they will need to pass down to their child. That my friends is more important than any video game, movie, TV, jewelry, or anything else that money can buy.

TIP: Make it fun for your child by playing I spy and teaching the names of each fruit and vegetable, switch it up after several times and have your child do the calling. Try to focus on some of the more unfamiliar fruits and vegetables.

2.     Let your child help you wash, cut and store your fruits and vegetables.

Ah yes, this may seem dangerous. No I am NOT telling you to hand your two year old a butcher knife. There are products you can buy for young helpers in the kitchen that allow them to help and yet be safe. If you don’t feel comfortable having them cut up the fruits and veggies then there is still plenty they can help with. Washing and storing the fruits and veggies are teaching them very important lessons early on. They should understand and you should talk with them about why we wash our fruits and veggies. Don’t sugarcoat it, simplify it. They need to know and understand why they are doing what they are doing if you want it to make an impression on them. Storing the fruits and veggies will allow them to carry that on to get the most out of each farmers market visit. Lets face it nobody likes letting their food go to waste, especially yummy fruits and veggies. If you are worried about a mess with little helpers in the kitchen then you should set them up a “station” get a tray from the dollar store and allow them just to be present. It will impact them just being in the kitchen with you.

TIP: Make a chart with your child list which fruits and veggies should be stored where.  For younger children cut out pictures from a local advertisements and glue onto chart. Keep this on the fridge so that they may look at it while helping.

3.     Measure and pour ingredients.

Very few kids (or people for that matter) enjoy math. In the kitchen we have a chance to use some of those forced math skills. More so, we have a chance to help our children gain general knowledge of measurements and fractions and you get more quality time with your little ones. Sounds like a win-win to me. This process is not one that you can let them do on their own until they are fairly old enough. After all some ingredients are hard to remove if too much are used. To be on the safe side you can have them measure ingredients over the sink and then add them to the bowl.

TIP: Give your child the measuring cups and spoons and have them tell you what each one is. If they need help be sure to tell them at the beginning what each one is and have them repeat each one. Also have them read the recipe to see the measurement this will allow them to get familiar with the layout of a cookbook.

4.    Allow them one night a week that is their night to pick/cook dinner.

This is something that as a kid I LOVED to do. It allowed me to express a little bit of creativity and it made me feel like I had a role in the family each week. To make this a little bit easier on yourself you can absolutely put a few restrictions. Don’t allow there to be too many though, you want them to explore and be creative, but you also want it to feed your family J Keep in mind though, they are kids and may possibly make mistakes. Don’t leave them unsupervised if you are uncomfortable with how the end result may be.

TIP: Sit down and go through recipes with your children once a month. It doesn’t have to be for a long period of time, but just enough to find some new recipes to try in the month the follow. Have your child make their own recipe book it will allow them to have their first recipes for years to come. If they are too young to make their own then have them draw a picture and then you write the recipe down for them. No matter how simple you think the recipe is write it down.

5.     Most importantly, make sure that they help with clean up.

I say that this is most important because this is the part that we all would like to skip out on. Lets face it though; very few of us are rewarded with that luxury. Kids need to understand and get use to the fact that cleaning up is just part of the job. Any spills or oops that your child had should be cleaned up by your child. No this is not a form of torture it is just showing them that if they are responsible for their messes. It is a great lesson to teach them and the earlier the better. Be realistic on what they can help clean up, but give them more credit then you think. Make sure though that if you helped out in the kitchen you help with some of the clean up, they are learning from your habits.

Tip: While you are cleaning up with your child make sure and discuss some food related topics. You can talk about kitchen safety or where different parts of the dinner originated from. Figure out what interests them about food and health and try to appeal to that as much as possible. Once again, the younger they are the better.

Getting your children involved doesn't mean that you have to give them the control. It just means to allow them to understand where their food comes from and the process it takes to make it something delicious entering their bodies.

Love to you all and wishes for a healthy and happy lifestyle,

Lori J