Kids are interested in so many things. One of which is cooking! The preparation of the food. The chopping. The stirring. Adding spices. With all that goes on in the kitchen, what's not to get excited about!
My husband and I love involving our little sous chefs in the kitchen, whether it be breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack...you name it, they want to be in the mix ;)
My mother used have each of us kids be the cook one night a week, where we got to choose what was for dinner and be the main chef in the kitchen. I have yet to institute this tradition in my own family, as my children are 3 and 5. But very soon I think I'll have them start picking what's for dinner once in a while by flipping through cook books, picking out items at the farmer's market, and helping me in the kitchen that night. The foodies they are, I know they will think it a great treat.
And even if your children are young and you know they will loose interest quick, you can still involve them in measuring, pouring, and helping set the table. And why not make all these ordinary daily tasks special and fun, right? :)
When we cook with our children we are helping them see where their meals come from - whole healthy ingredients, made at home. So many kids think that the only place food comes from is a box, bag, or some other packaging with a multitude of unhealthy, unnatural additives. What a great lesson to teach our children that the best tasting food is made with our own two hands at home, with our families.
I could not agree more! Great article :) We have recently done exactly the same thing...which makes the timing of your post so wild. Our two children pick out what they want to make and help in the kitchen as well. We also have switched out chemicals in our home and only use baking soda and vinegar- it has been wonderful to see the change in our whole family. We We eat whole healthy foods, use homemade soaps all the way to using this pain cream we found from Topricinkids (it is natural). I love the feeling I have about keeping our family healthy and never had any idea this would become so important. I think though that it is hugely important that we are aware of the toxins out there and how family prepared meals really is the way our country started and hopefully how we are going to become again. It starts with our children! Thanks for a great post :)
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