Who’s in the Kitchen? Benefits of Cooking with Kids

Getting your kids involved in the kitchen may be one of the best things you can do for them—and for your relationship with them. Studies have shown that working with parents or grandparents to prepare meals benefits children in many ways.

Learning to prepare their own food will help your children build confidence. It will help them learn to make healthy choices about what they will eat and become more adventurous about trying new and healthy foods.

Cooking with your children can strengthen the bond between you and encourage communication, making it more fun and more natural.

Cooking Up Confidence

Children often begin to show interest in helping in the kitchen by the time they are two or three. This is not too young for them to begin helping.

A very young child can snap the ends from green beans, crumble bread for bread crumbs, peel garlic, wash vegetables, learn to measure ingredients and roll out the dough, stir mixtures with a spoon… Think about the tasks you can give your child as you sense his or her interest growing.

Just being involved is important for children this age. As they grow older, they can learn to take on more difficult tasks like cracking eggs, cutting vegetables, operating appliances, and following a recipe on their own.

Start out with simple recipes so that your child can be encouraged by his or her initial success. Don’t make a huge deal out of spills or imperfections. Complement them on a job well done.

You are your child’s guide as they learn in the kitchen, but it may surprise you how quickly they will become experts if they enjoy it. Many children soon want to begin experimenting with their own recipes, adding or substituting ingredients and learning which flavors go well together.

With encouragement, patience, and room enough to experiment and make mistakes, children learn to complete a task and enjoy results. They learn when to go by the rules and when to break them in a safe environment.

They learn the pride of accomplishment and the joy of giving to others.