As soon as you are going to the kitchen, your baby is right there. He turns under his feet, grabs a spoon and a ladle, crawls into salt and pepper with his finger and asks a lot of different questions. As a result, borscht, which usually takes an hour and a half, you cook for half a day. And you wash the kitchen and the baby for half a day. How can you resist the temptation and not turn on the cartoons at this time. And the kitchen will remain clean, and dinner will be ready for one or two.
In fact, this is the path of least resistance. The kid does not interfere, he just burns with the desire to help you. It is important not to repulse this desire and not to drown out, then in the future you will receive not just an assistant for kitchen. In the process of cooking, the child can master a variety of skills, and most importantly, he will learn to feel confident in the kitchen. We have found at least five reasons to teach a child to cook. In fact, in the process of joint cooking, you can find many more of them.
Reason 1. Family values.
All kids love helping adults. Knowing that you and your child are doing something together helps him to fully feel like a part of the family. And cooking in this regard is of increased importance. According to psychologists, cooking together (like eating together) brings people closer together, helps them learn to listen and hear each other. In the warm and cozy atmosphere of the kitchen, under the smell of food being prepared, a person relaxes and becomes more open. Introduce your child to family cooking from an early age. And in the future you will be able to sculpt together dumplings find out the secrets and experiences of your grown-up child easily and naturally.
Reason 2. Acquaintance with new products.
It is easy to introduce new products to the child in the process of cooking / istockphoto.com
Despite the natural craving for learning new things, almost all children in food are terrible conservatives. Sometimes a child refuses even a favorite dish, which for some reason just looks unusual. And what young mothers do not invent to make the baby try an unknown product. Invite your child to cook a new dish together, and while cooking, try the food yourself, and offer the helper small pieces. Interest will surely win over caution, and the baby will get new taste experiences unnoticed.
Reason 3. The basics of reading and mathematics.
The kitchen is the perfect place to explain the basic concepts of more / less to your child, show the parts of a whole (half, third, quarter) and teach him the basics of counting. During the cooking process, these skills are learned quickly. At the same time, the mother does two useful things at once - she cooks dinner and develops her baby. Older children can easily be explained on products what weight and volume are. In addition, in the kitchen you can learn to read. You can start with the name of the products on the package. And of course, you shouldn't neglect the recipes. Even if you know all your signature dishes by heart, use a cookbook with your child. Ask him to read the recipe out loud as you lay out the ingredients on the table. In the future, you can discuss the dish you want to cook and invite the child to find a suitable recipe on the Internet himself. Such reading will give him more pleasure than the obligatory "reading" of two pages a day.
Reason 4. A reason for pride.
Learning to cook is useful not only for girls, but also for boys / istockphoto.com
When a child does something himself, it gives him a legitimate reason to be proud. Even if the kid just threw the pasta into a pot of water, he will definitely tell his dad that he cooked the dinner. The more things he does in the kitchen, the more reasons he will be proud of himself. He peeled the potatoes himself, made dumplings himself, made an apple pie himself. Feed this pride with compulsory admiration, even if you later had to quietly peel the potatoes. A sense of your own worth is a solid foundation for self-confidence in the future.
Reason 5. Self-reliance skills.
A child who sees from childhood how to handle the stove will calmly cook pasta or fry eggs in the future. This is very important for working parents. Often, even adult children have to leave step-by-step instructions on how to reheat soup in the microwave. In this case, the soup still remains intact, and the child is hungry. If your child feels familiar in the kitchen, you can not worry about such things. Moreover, there is a chance that by your arrival from work the child will not only feed himself, but also prepare something tasty for you.
You will also be interested in reading:
5 ways to make the kitchen as safe as possible for your child
5 dishes you must cook with your child
How to feed a reluctant child: 5 secrets and recipes for parents
