I have always heard that cooking together with your children can be beneficial in many ways, for them and for your mutual relationship.
I honestly think it’s a beautiful concept, however, it does not work like that in my house. Our kitchen became a ‘no-no’ place as it almost always leads to disagreements and arguing.
I believe this has more to do with me than anyone else. First, I am nervous and afraid they might get hurt. Then, it comes the pressure to teach ONE MORE thing to them. I know…parenting is a constant-never-ending lesson… we’ll always be teaching, and sometimes even learning. But, c’mon… In addition to teaching everything a parent needs to teach about life and surviving, I also homeschool, amateur coach (in various areas such as sports, acting, etc), teach/practice a second language, and more… I feel that cooking is really not that high in my list of priorities.
I have watched my friends’ children anticipate and participate in so many cooking projects. I must confess that I often feel jealous when my friends post pictures of delicious dishes or birthday breakfasts, succulent barbecue and super yummy cakes prepared by their daughters and sons. I’ve got bread with honey, which by the way was delicious and made this mamma really happy, for a breakfast in bed.
My oldest wants to learn to cook really bad and I am ready to sign her up to a cooking class. I do want her to learn. I just don’t want to be the initial teacher for this subject in particular. But once she gets the ‘mojo’, I will gladly teach her my culinary secrets 🙂
My daughter’s friend came for a sleepover the other night. It was very informal. Nothing elaborated or well planned at all. Just two friends enjoying each other’s company. They decided to have a ‘Halloween themed movie session’. But before that, they needed to make cupcakes for themselves.
They took all the ingredients out of the pantry and poured them in the bowl, meticulously following the recipe they found online. Until, right when most of the ingredients were already mixed in the bowl, they realized we didn’t have all the ingredients that the recipe required.
Now what?
After a moment of panic, these girls took a deep breath and went exploring the refrigerator and the pantry, and they came up with some clever ideas.
They started mixing and improvising and, after a humongous mess in my kitchen, Voila!, they came out with a dozen delicious and great looking chocolate cupcakes.
The little things in life matter. The little changes. The little decisions. They all add up and become big things. My daughter and her friend could have just given and eaten popcorn instead of cupcakes. They could have asked me to go to the store (which is probably what I would have done if I were one of them), but they didn’t. They were thinkers, problem solvers. As small as this might look, to me it shows their ability to think outside of the box, improvise and find a solution to a problem. I was really proud of them!
Missing ‘ingredients’
Many times in life I found myself giving up because I didn’t have all the ‘ingredients’. And although I don’t believe in regrets, because they won’t change what has already happened, I look back and realize that my mentality and approach to certain situations set the limitations for my growth and understanding in those areas.
It is never too late to let your creativity flow.