7 Reasons to Teach Kids to Cook

One afternoon several years ago, I told the kids we all needed to pitch in to clean the house; guests were due to arrive within the hour. I assigned each girl one bathroom, handing off sponges and cleansers to get the job done. A short while later, I popped in on each of them to check on their progress. They were earnestly at work, but didn’t look like they’d made a dent in restoring the sparkle to the tile and chrome of our bathrooms. The youngest, Virginia, looked perplexed and finally said,

“Mom, well, I don’t really know how to clean a toilet.”

It quickly occurred to me that of course she didn’t know how to clean a toilet, or any other part of a bathroom for that matter. I’d never taught her. Unlike breathing or breastfeeding, scrubbing tile isn’t exactly instinctive.

Cooking Is Learned Skill

And nor is cooking. Your children may absorb some familiarity with meal prep simply by being in the kitchen. But really, unless we teach our kids to cook, they won’t know how. They will arrive in their first apartment with a set of cheap knives from Target without a clue as to how to use them.

Big Benefits

Arming your kids with skills at the stove has enormous upsides, some of which benefit us parents rather nicely. Cooking with your kids:

  1. Will up the likelihood that they’ll eat what’s on the table, even healthy foods. This includes vegetable they heretofore said they didn’t like. I’ve witnessed this first hand amongst dozens of kids I’ve taught in cooking classes. It’s also the case in food education programs such as Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard. Got picky kids? Get them cooking.
  2. Will provide practical learning opportunities: math skills as they measure, reading as they rattle off a recipe, logic as they follow directions, geography as they travel the culinary globe, art as they tinker with presentation.
  3. Will give them a life skill that may make them healthier adults. People who cook and eat at home, eat more nutritiously than those who don’t.
  4. Will give you one more way to connect. Having your child grate cheese as you assemble veggie enchiladas may be the best quality time you have all day.
  5. Will lighten your load. Being able to turn to your 10-year-old and ask him to make and dress the salad means one less dinnertime chore for you to tackle.
  6. Will foster independence and give them confidence to know that they are quite capable of doing for themselves.

and perhaps most importantly…

  1. Will prepare them to one day, hopefully, cook for you. When they’re adults, they will come to your house and make you delicious food as you relax with a glass of wine. I know because this is what my brother and sister and I do for my mom. She is still a wonderful cook, but she doesn’t have to lift a finger if she doesn’t feel like it.

How to Make it Happen

The question now is, where to start? Start by inviting them to help plan a meal this week. Pour over a favorite cookbook, cooking website, or blog. Ask them to pick out a recipe and help write up a shopping list of ingredients, and head here for 10 tips to get kids cooking. 

If you cook with your kids already, do tell.

Comments

11.07.2012 at4:21 AM #

Jacquelyn Stern

I just retweeted this! Great advice. I look forward to hearing your next week post. You have great, practical advice for families.
I haven’t met you personally, but I am a registered dietitian too! I also have three girls. I hope to connect one day. I am new to Twitter and you can follow me @jacquelynstern.

11.07.2012 at4:21 AM #

Katie Morford

Thanks Jacquelyn. I’ll go find you on Twitter now! Nice to “meet” you.

11.07.2012 at5:23 AM #

Kendra

Will read your blog for the first time today before school. Seeing the girls making a pie caught his interest. I had just asked him to give me an idea of what he might want for dinner. After reading he said how about your chicken enchiladas and we can add a few veggies. He plans to grate the cheese!

11.07.2012 at5:23 AM #

Katie Morford

Cute! Go Will.

11.07.2012 at6:48 AM #

Anne Mullen

As usual, you’re so right, and I didn’t do that with my kids because it was easier to do it myself at the time. I’m so sorry now. Though both of them can cook, neither loves it (as you know with Kate). I didn’t learn when I was young, so perhaps that’s why I didn’t start them early. It’s a really important life skill, and much better when you enjoy it.

11.07.2012 at6:48 AM #

Katie Morford

I agree Anne, that enjoying it is big. Makes it all so much more fun.

11.07.2012 at9:32 AM #

Humaira

Katie, This is such great advice. My older daughter took on the responsibility of making lunches for herself and her sister when she was in 3rd grade and she still does it without prompting or complaining. We do pay her $1/lunch but what was a way for me to get rid of a every day chore urned out to be a great lesson on planning, food stocking, menu planning, and of course creating a healthy mix of foods that satisfies the little sister. I have been amazed by all the life lessons I have bestowed upon her without even knowing it 🙂 – Humaira

11.07.2012 at9:32 AM #

Katie Morford

You make an important point. Teaching kids to cook doesn’t just mean dinner. Learning to prep their breakfast and lunch are opportunities too.

04.03.2013 at5:05 PM #

charlie h.

Great thoughts. Beyond the cooking, it can be a bear to get kids to do “chores” but sometimes the approach alone is the trick. Another “tactic” is to help the kids understand that it isn’t just busy work and that it is important (in my experience kids want to be helpful but not “occupied”). Letting kids know that they are a part of a process that is truly important can be a help. Keep up the work!

04.03.2013 at5:05 PM #

Katie Morford

Great point. Agreed!

04.16.2015 at10:07 AM #

AP

Oh Katie! I’m good with everything else about feeding kids and quite confident in this area…except for cooking with them :/ Don’t get me wrong, I BELIEVE in it and those rare times we actually do it are sorta fun, but my kitchen is tiny and typically cluttered with appliances, etc. It’s actually a very difficult kitchen to work ‘together’ in. I have, at times, moved food prep into the dining room–which is not directly off the kitchen and that has helped because we can sit around the table. But when it’s time to prep meals my kids are either enjoying their after-nap tv time or enraptured in play. It is like punishment to them to make them stop to join me. I like articles like yours because it forces me to think about solutions. I don’t have one yet…not one that will make cooking together a regular event. Must think on it more!

04.16.2015 at10:07 AM #

Katie Morford

Sounds challenging, but the fact that you even have it on your radar and are doing it sometimes is a terrific start. You have to find what works for you and your family. Even a small task, like asking kids to pull the veggies out of the fridge to make a salad, is something. The key is that over time they gain some confidence and comfort in preparing food. For some families, the kids are in the mix every day. In others, maybe it’s more for weekend “project” cooking or making their own breakfast. You might find some useful tips in this follow up post I did: http://www.momskitchenhandbook.com/uncategorized/part-two-the-very-best-thing-to-do-for-your-kids-in-the-kitchen/

Keep up the good work!

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