homeschool/parenting idea re: kitchen help

It's funny. We want help but only on our terms. Rather than feel helpless and wounded all alone in the kitchen, how about developing a plan to get the help you want and need? And in the process, developing your children into self-sufficiency?

When my children were young, both children had kitchen helper days. These were days when they helped me in the kitchen. Caroline had Mondays and Wednesday and Peter had Tuesdays and Thursdays. I gave myself the three-day weekend to recover, LOL.

Now it wasn't the easiest thing I have ever done, but I gave them tasks to do and just accepted that it would be a little messier and a little slower. But I knew it was important for them to see that this is what happens in this room with the large appliances!

This is how they were taught the importance of nutrition, kitchen safety and how to cook. While they were chopping the food (they used those safety knives you can buy at Halloween time?if they can cut a pumpkin without removing a finger, they can cut a carrot without any injury as well), we talked about the nutrition of what they were preparing (we called fruits and veggies "growing foods"). This is what I like to call hands-on nutrition. The more the child has his "hands on" something, the more ownership and the better chances of him or her eating what is prepared.

Each child had his and her own aprons (I bought them at Walmart for less than $5 each and they made their own designs with paint pens) that hung on hooks in the pantry. When it was time to start dinner, they put on their aprons, brought their stools to the sink, washed their hands and waited for their jobs. They loved it and so did I (although it did try my patience more than a few times!). Now my children are 19 and 21 and both know their way around the kitchen. My daughter even made Thanksgiving dinner for her entire dorm at college a few years back! That's how it should be!

So next time you're tempted to say, "Get out of my kitchen!" think about what it is you want from the big picture point of view. Do you want children that are self-sufficient in the kitchen (cooking IS a life skill!) and are knowledgeable about what constitutes a good, nutritious meal?

If you do, make a plan and bring those children into the family kitchen! (it's not YOURS, it's the FAMILY'S) This will work if you set parameters and have a good sense of humor! Enjoy your children?boy do they grow up FAST!