How to get kids hooked on cooking<\/p>\n
\u2022 Make your kitchen kid-friendly. Your child should be able to reach the counter and whatever tools he or she needs.
\n\u2022 Use real cooking tools. Teach proper techniques for using stoves, sharp knives, can openers, and peelers. Children will respect the danger these tools can present if you teach them proper methods and let them practice under your supervision.
\n\u2022 Give kids room to create. Set out an assortment of ingredients and then let them go.
\n\u2022 Play a restaurant game at home. Have your children draw up a menu for adults to order from. Even if the dish is simple, kids get a kick out of taking orders and passing out the bill.
\n\u2022 Allow kids to serve at dinnertime. It’ll get them involved in meals and teach them good presentation skills.
\n\u2022 Delegate small tasks. Let children arrange food, create salad dressings, or add designs to cookies and cakes.
\n\u2022 Give cooking tools as gifts. A good one to start with is a citrus zester, because kids enjoy making a curly, colorful slice of peel.
\n\u2022 Let mistakes go. After all, cooking is about trial and error.
\n\u2022 Cook “real” recipes with your kids. Don’t dumb things down for them, or rely solely on children’s cookbooks. Instead, follow tested recipes, making small alterations to lower the skill level.
\n\u2022 When they\u2019re toddlers, place them on your hip or your back (I used an Ergo and then a hiking backpack) at the stove so that they feel like they\u2019re a part of the experience.
\n\u2022 Let them hold your wrist while you whisk, flip, or stir.
\n\u2022 Hand little ones a butter knife and a soft piece of fruit like a peach or a pear. Next, still with a dull butter knife, teach them to curl their fingers and angle the knife away. Once they\u2019ve mastered this technique, bring out the real knives. Just don\u2019t look away for the first few years.
\n\u2022 Hand them scraps of dough to make mini tarts. Let them over-mix and over-fill.
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t force your kids into the kitchen. Let them see you enjoying it (fake it if you need to). In fact, sometimes, don\u2019t invite them into the kitchen at all. Let it be your peaceful place. Then watch them get intrigued.
\n\u2022 There will be waste. Things will get broken. Fingers will get cut. Eggs will hit the floor.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Let go. Clean up. Start again. Play.
\nRaising Adventurous Eaters<\/p>\n
In America, supermarkets are full of pricey processed products that claim to be marketed to kids\u2019 palates. But in other countries, says the Washington, D.C., author, toddlers happily eat chilies, funky fruits, liver or lemon grass because that\u2019s what their parents are happily eating, too. And we can follow suit.<\/p>\n
Instead of giving kids exactly what they say they want to prevent meltdowns, Piho means, we should be teaching them about what she calls taste: How food is grown, what it smells like, how we cook it, how pretty it looks on the plate before it\u2019s cut up into kid-size pieces, and that there are a multitude of flavors out there in the world beyond bread and sugar, most of them good.<\/p>\n
If you approach food as a pleasure rather than as a pain with your kids in other words \u2014 and do it from their first bites of pureed produce \u2014 they\u2019re far more likely to just eat what you do.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Don\u2019t get attached to kids\u2019 likes and dislikes\u2014everything changes.
\n\u2022 There is no such thing as kid food\u2014there is only bland food.
\n\u2022 Make only one dinner\u2014no special meals.
\n\u2022 Keep your kid helping in the kitchen.
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t stop serving foods they won\u2019t eat now, just keep putting them on the table.
\n\u2022 Respect Family Dinners
\n\u2022 Just One Bite
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t Pre-Cut Children\u2019s Food \u2013 Let them see how pretty it is first
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t express negativity about food, even if it\u2019s something YOU don\u2019t care for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How to get kids hooked on cooking \u2022 Make your kitchen kid-friendly. Your child should be able to reach the counter and whatever tools he or she needs. \u2022 Use real cooking tools. Teach proper techniques for using stoves, sharp knives, can openers, and peelers. Children will respect the danger these tools can present if you teach them proper methods and let them practice under your supervision. \u2022 Give kids room to create. Set out an assortment of ingredients and…<\/p>\n