Cooking With Kids: 5 Reasons You Should Be Doing It

[elleng]

Children should learn to cook.

It’s a basic life skill, after all, being comfortable enough in the kitchen to pull a few ingredients into a simple meal. It’s healthy — a hungry 13-year-old who can cook, home alone after school, may decide to stir-fry some leftover rice with whatever is in the fridge; his noncooking peer is left rummaging through the pantry for anything that can be eaten straight out of the box or bag. Cooking is a source of pride for the children who can take care of themselves in this way, or feed a friend or sibling. They’re capable of cooking, they know what to do, they can get it done.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/dining/cooking-with-kids-5-reasons-you-should-be-doing-it.html?

[Warpy]

1. My mother hated cooking and it showed

but when I was in my senior year of high school, she did try to show me some basics. I had to unlearn most of them over the next few years.

It's not always a good thing, IOW.

I did learn to cook, thank goodness for cookbooks and Julia Child on PBS.

[elleng]

2. My adopted mother went from 'unmarried, no kids,'

to 'married, 2 kids' and 'foodie' husband overnight, and never missed a beat! (She adopted Dad's family recipes as well as her family's too.)

My daughter, now 8 months pregnant, posted a pic of her almost 2 year old helping her stir, and she wrote about how much more he ate of 'his' chili! I recall holding her in my arms, 30 years ago, while making 'my' beef stew, which I just made for her to freeze for after her new babe arrives, so no one starves. It's definitely in the family.

[Warpy]

3. One of my foodie friends

allowed her 4 year old to push a chair up to the stove, climb up, and cook herself an egg when she got hungry.

Now that's hard core.

[elleng]

4. That IS hard core!!!

[dem in texas]

9. No Way - 4 yrs is too young to be at a stove

I taught my kids to prepare their own food starting at an early age, but they were not allowed to cook on the stove until they were much older, maybe 8 or 9, can't remember for sure. A 4 year old might turn on the wrong burner and not be able to figure out the lights and knobs on the stove, not to mention getting burned. Teach a 4 year old how to make a PBJ sandwich or something they can get from the refrigerator.

[ion_theory]

5. K&R. I wish my parents had done this with me.

I cannot think of one time they actually showed me how to make something besides cookies. Don't get me wrong. They are good parents. Just would have been nice to have had some guidance those first few months out of home on basics of cooking healthy.

[eridani]

6. My folks didn't trust kids in the kitchen. I learned from friends in college and cookbooks n/t

[surrealAmerican]

7. It is a rare 13-year-old, even with the skills ...

... who would choose to cook fried rice for a snack.

It is an even rarer 13-year-old who would clean the wok, knife, and cutting board.



It is valuable to teach your children how to cook, but this is a bad example.

[SheilaT]

8. I agree that the fried rice and a 13 year old is a bad example.

When my boys were fairly young I bought a couple of cookbooks aimed at kids, and once a week one would choose a recipe, we'd make it, and that was dinner that night. Not too sure how much either of them cooks as adults, but I know they have the basic skills.

My mother, may she rest in peace, was a terrible cook, and it showed. I was frying bacon and scrambling my own eggs by the time I was five or so. I really didn't learn much from her, but as an adult I'm a decent cook.

[Aerows]

11. I love my mother dearly

but she couldn't cook her way out of a paper bag and has no intention of ever doing so.

The first time I had, of all things, pasta, it was from the lady down the street and I was eating with her kids. I was about 10 or 11. I asked her how she made it, and she told me what to do.

We had never made it, to my knowledge, in my house unless it was macaroni and cheese.

It sounds silly, but beyond a breakfast of (horror) instant grits, she just was not interested. She is a wonderful woman, is great at just about everything, but detests the kitchen and is pretty upfront about that . LOL. "Go to the restaurant of your choice" are pretty much her bywords.

[SheilaT]

12. My mother was likewise wonderful in many ways.

However, it's a family joke that airline food really is quite good.

[Aerows]

10. Great read.

Kids should know how to cook if they want to learn.