Sunday, February 19, 2012

Teach Your Children to Cook

(Disclaimer: the pictures are old and in no way reflect how any of these people look today.)

Read an article this morning about why you should teach you children to cook. I learned from a cookbook although with some basics absorbed along the way. I am not sure I did much to teach my daughters to cook although both of them have turned out to be really good cooks. The one with children has been great about that though.


Number One grandson was about 14 ~ that age at which a healthy male will eat around the clock. We had a large, nutritious meal and I had cooked for the family and cleaned up. I was finally sitting down and he says, “Mama Susan, may I have a burrito?” With a sigh I say, “of course, honey” and start to get up. He puts a hand out to stop my rising and says, “I can fix it myself.” I sat back down and said, “Oh, ok.” And anything “extra” he has eaten in my kitchen since, he has made or prepared by himself.


Of course if the family comes to a meal, Dean and I are still the primary cooks unless it has been arranged for his parents to cook and for me to enjoy my grandchildren. And he has also experimented in our kitchen with several lovely desserts and muffins.



In January his younger brother, age 9 1/2 now, wanted to come up for my birthday. He couldn’t because of the weather. He told me however that if he had been able to come, he wanted to bake me a cake.




Little sister has been helping in the kitchen since she had to sit on the counter.

Then you get old enough to light the candle!











Dean’s son found himself divorced and living alone knowing nothing about cooking. My daughter gave him a list of basics he would need in the kitchen and taught him some recipes, including how to bake a Thanksgiving turkey. Now it is fun to watch him teach his four children how to cook and clean up. When they come to visit, we can depend on at least one breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared by the family.














Teaching kids to cook not only gives them the life skills but also allows for a fun, enjoyable, unforced time together. And it makes grandparents Very Proud!

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