Kids in the Kitchen: Tips and Recipes

I love to cook and bake. I love thumbing through cookbooks and perusing homemaking magazines and blogs, gazing at photographs of yummy or interesting meals and treats, day dreaming about the perfect supper or homey breakfast (for some reason, I rarely day dream about the ideal lunch - possibly because it's scarfed down in fifteen minutes in a chlorine/bleach scented teachers' lunch room). For a long time, and still, sometimes, I have had a hard time dealing with having anyone else in the kitchen with me, which is tough when you're "kitchen" is at the other end of a smallish room that also houses the living "room" and our dining table. Others are bound to be in your space, particularly curious four year olds.

This is where I've had to let go and make compromises. Not only is every meal not going to be this fabulous affair every evening (if only because I don't have the time or energy after working a seven hour day), but it also has to be kid friendly. Let's face it, I haven't been with my kiddo all day, she needs some Mom Time and attention and I want to be with her, too. I've learned that if I want to both spend time with my daughter and get a meal on the table, then I need to include her.

And, if you're a bit of fussy cook (which I am), that can be a tough thing to do, but I do have a few tips (these are geared for kiddos ages 3+, I have some ideas for the younger guys below):

1. Prep. Get out everything you'll need; equipment, ingredients (pre-measured, if you're able), preheat the oven, all that. I try to get out an activity for my daughter to do or even let her watch a short episode of a T.V. show while I throw stuff together. For a treat, I might pull out the old laptop and let her go to town on PBS Kids. If you can't distract them long enough, see if they can pull equipment or ingredients out of the fridge or cupboards.
2. Make it kid friendly. Overly complicated recipes just aren't going to work with kids. If there is a lot of careful sort of cooking/prepping involved, you probably don't want to bring in the kids. If there is a new recipe I want to try that's more involved than I'm used to, I save it for a weekend night or an evening when I know my husband will be home and can keep our daughter occupied. Meals that work for me that are easy and kid-friendly - breakfast for supper (pancakes, eggs, etc.), stir-fries, casseroles, pizza, spaghetti. 
3. Don't worry about how it looks. In my case, whatever is going on the plate is going to look sloppy, so when I have my daughter cook with me, at least I have a good excuse why. It doesn't matter if it looks kind of funky - it's for you, for your kiddo(s), and for the rest of your family. The benefits outweigh the risks here. Also, if it's a meal or goodie where presentation, for whatever reason, really does matter, then it's probably not a time to have your kids cook with you.
4. If you're grumpy, don't do it! Some days suck. You've been at work all day, things just didn't go great, the kids are in an awful mood, so are you. That may not be the night to make cooking dinner a family affair. That's the kind of night at our house where I've got Curious George blaring in the background while I quickly throw something together (or possibly beg my husband to bring me Chinese while I make my daughter PB&J). All the benefits of including your kids in the cooking of dinner go right out the window if all it's going to result in is frazzled mom and kids.
5. Remember all the good you're doing. When sharing my kitchen with my four year old gets tough, I remember this: She loves to cook (and I think a lot of kids do), we're creating memories together, she's learning new skills and how to be safe in the kitchen, and she's starting to appreciate where her food comes from and what kind of effort it takes to get it from the grocery store, to the kitchen, to her plate. Plus, I've found she's far more likely to at least try something she's made and then eat it all up than if I've booted her out of the kitchen and it's all sort of a surprise when she sits down at the dinner table. 

Tips for parents cooking with younger kids:

• Drag out extra cooking equipment. Pots, pans, cookie sheets, and spoons. Kids bang away while you cook. 
• Talk to you kids while you cook. Show them the ingredients, offer samples of veggies while you chop them.
• Let them play with food. Your little guy really wants to cook? Give him some dry cereal in a bowl and a mixing spoon. He can snack and "cook" and leave you free to get stuff done! 
• If you have a really little one (0-12 months or so), wearing your kiddo, if safe (like, you don't have hot liquid splashing everywhere), is really great. Dinner time is, as we call it, "Children's Hour." This is probably the time of day when your little one wants to be held, but you have stuff to do. Wearing your baby and cooking is an awesome way to reconnect with you child and give them their first view of the culinary world.

And here are two recipes I just recently tried with my daughter:

Banana-Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie (recipe from here):
Two frozen bananas, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. honey
1/4 cup of peanut butter
1 cup of milk
1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (you actually could probably get away with two for a more chocolatey taste)

I had everything (except for a couple of measuring cups) laid out before we started.

Here's my kiddo pouring in the milk, she's my official pourer :-)

We threw the ingredients in pretty haphazardly into the blender and blended until smooth.

Giving it a try....

She gives it a thumbs in the middle (might have been too peanut buttery for her), but I give it a thumbs up! There was something Reeses-esque about the drink.

How well did this work? Really well and super easy. Smoothies are really super easy to make with kids and they usually enjoy them. Even though my kiddo was sort of "eh" about the drink, she still drank it and was really excited to tell her daddy that she made a smoothie all by herself (what, am I chopped liver?). And, to top it off, smoothies are a super easy and yummy way to get a great nutritional punch into your kids snack or breakfast.

Yogurt Covered Blueberries (based on a picture on Pinterest that links to this recipe):
Pint of blueberries
2 8oz of Greek honey yogurt
Toothpicks or skewers

We put the two containers of yogurt into a bowl and mixed them really well, making it smooth. Then we stabbed the blueberries with a skewer and dipped them in the yogurt.

We put the blueberries inside baking pans (I chose the cake pans because of the rims so the berries wouldn't go sliding off in my freezer), then popped the pans in the freezer for about an hour. Once thoroughly frozen, I stored the blueberries in a Tupperware container in my freezer.

 

 

 

 

How did it work? Well...mixed results. My daughter and I loved the blueberries. Super yummy and a great combination of healthy dairy and protein along with a fruit. That said...It's hard work stabbing blueberries with toothpicks and dipping them in thick Greek yogurt for me, never mind for a four year old. We both got pretty frustrated and my daughter eventually moved on to another activity on her own while I finished up. I'm sure there must an easier way to cover those dang blueberries, but that's how we did it. I will say, from an early education standpoint, the stabbing and dipping of the blueberries is a great way to work those fine motor skills!

For me, learning to cook with my daughter has been tough, but well worth it. Admittedly, it's not something we do every night, but when we do, it's well worth it. Food is the glue that binds families, I believe, whether you're cooking it together or simply just sitting down around the table with another, pizza boxes wide open. 

Creating Play Every Day

Has this exchange ever happened in your house?

Adorable child: Will you play with me?
Parent: Oh, sweetheart, not right now, I've got some work to do. Maybe later?
Adorable child: Okay!

...Later...

Adorable child: Hey, wanna play?
Parent: Sure, honey, maybe in a bit. I have to finish this up first.
Adorable child: All right.

...In a bit...

Adorable child: Now can you play with me?
Parent: You know, maybe tomorrow, because it's getting late and it's almost bedtime! Tomorrow we will, okay?

But what happens when it's tomorrow? I know these exact conversations have been heard in our house any number of times, and when tomorrow finally arrives...it doesn't usually end much differently than the day before.

That's not to say my child is neglected and never has her mom or dad to play with her. Believe me, I've served my time playing Barbies on the bedroom floor, organized craft projects on our kitchen table, read endless amounts of books, and shared time watching a family movie or two. I also firmly believe that kids need to learn how to play independently and with other kids. If my daughter only ever had myself or her dad to play with she would be driving more than just us nuts.

But because I work out of the home full time, it sometimes feels like the few moments of play I do get in during a week aren't enough. Yes, I'm sure some of this is that dreaded "mommy guilt", but at the same time, I know how easily I can prioritize things like cooking dinner, cleaning my floors, folding laundry, or even social media (hello, Facebook and Pinterest!) over playing with or including my daughter.

So, as the new year rolled around, I made myself a few promises. Less screen time for all (especially me), more playing, and finding new ways to spend time with my daughter, even if it isn't helping her work out the drama between Barbie, Ken, and the new girl in town, Tinkerbell.

And while blogging about it all might seem vaguely counterintuitive (you know, what with the less screen time and trying to make myself more available to my child), I couldn't help but think I'm not the only mom who has this problem, working out of the home or not. This might be a way to connect with other mothers (and fathers!), to share ideas, and to build a community of parents who want to create homes where play and building connections with their kids is more than just a once in a while kind of thing, but an intrinsic part of the every day.

If you'd like to learn a little bit more about me, check out the "About the Mama" page, here, and my more broadly subjected blog, here.