How to get kids hooked on cooking<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Make your kitchen kid-friendly. Your child should be able to reach the counter and whatever tools he or she needs.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 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\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Give kids room to create. Set out an assortment of ingredients and then let them go.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 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\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Allow kids to serve at dinnertime. It’ll get them involved in meals and teach them good presentation skills.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Delegate small tasks. Let children arrange food, create salad dressings, or add designs to cookies and cakes.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 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\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Let mistakes go. After all, cooking is about trial and error.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 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\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 When they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a part of the experience.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Let them hold your wrist while you whisk, flip, or stir.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve mastered this technique, bring out the real knives. Just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look away for the first few years.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Hand them scraps of dough to make mini tarts. Let them over-mix and over-fill.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t force your kids into the kitchen. Let them see you enjoying it (fake it if you need to). In fact, sometimes, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t invite them into the kitchen at all. Let it be your peaceful place. Then watch them get intrigued.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 There will be waste. Things will get broken. Fingers will get cut. Eggs will hit the floor.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 palates. But in other countries, says the Washington, D.C., author, toddlers happily eat chilies, funky fruits, liver or lemon grass because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and do it from their first bites of pureed produce \u00e2\u20ac\u201d they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re far more likely to just eat what you do.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get attached to kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 likes and dislikes\u00e2\u20ac\u201deverything changes.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 There is no such thing as kid food\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthere is only bland food.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Make only one dinner\u00e2\u20ac\u201dno special meals.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Keep your kid helping in the kitchen.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop serving foods they won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t eat now, just keep putting them on the table.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Respect Family Dinners
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Just One Bite
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Pre-Cut Children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Food \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Let them see how pretty it is first
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t express negativity about food, even if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something YOU don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How to get kids hooked on cooking \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Make your kitchen kid-friendly. Your child should be able to reach the counter and whatever tools he or she needs. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 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. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Give kids room to create. Set out an assortment of ingredients and…<\/p>\n