A friend of mine included Anna in a sewing class for seven-year-olds during the month of June. I followed it up with a weeklong cooking class for the same group of girls. What fun we had! I'm a big believer in teaching kids (while they are young) important skills like opening cans, browning hamburger and the like for two reasons:
1. When I'm preparing dinner in the evening, I can assign them said tasks while I get to work on matters that require greater maturity (like chopping vegetables, cooking with hot oil and such). It is a sight to see one daughter grating cheese, another browning hamburger and the third setting the table. I get help in the kitchen and the girls get a sense that they contributed something worthwhile to the family. I love it.
2. Part of raising children means equipping them to be on their own someday. Right? I'm amazed by the number of parents that simply don't get that concept and baby their kids forever and a day. Anyway, by the time kids are teenagers, it will have been too late to teach them such things because they are either too busy or they just plain don't care. I choose to teach them when they are just barely capable because they still have enthusiasm for doing "big kid stuff".
I try to include my kids in household tasks on a regular basis - but teaching this class convinced me that setting aside specific time within which they can practice without having to worry about deadlines (such as dinner's got to get on the table right now!) worked well for my kids. Made them feel special instead of just my personal slave, if you catch my drift. Teaching children is all a mind game, really. Anyway, my plan is to do this every summer for the next few years until they are master chefs. Or something like that.
1 comment:
Totally agree. Does having my 9 year old make her own Top Ramen or Spagettios count?? :) She did a lot of that while I was pregnant.
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