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Cooking together: how to instill a love of cooking in your child
Cooking all ages are submissive, especially to children. Agree, little helpers in the kitchen-always a joy. At what age can you discover the world of cooking for children? How to do it right and instill a love of cooking?
Learning by playing
You can start getting acquainted with cooking from the age of three. And it is best to do it in a playful way. Buy children’s cooking supplies in the store: a toy combine harvester, a set for making desserts, a plastic tea set, bright bowls, whorls, and spatulas. On the Internet, you can find and download a lot of educational cooking games. With them, it is much more interesting to study different products, kitchen utensils and master simple recipes.
Starting with the basics
After a while, you can go to a real kitchen. Let your child help you prepare your lunch and perform basic tasks. Ask him to mix vegetables for a salad, make meatballs for soup, or sprinkle grated cheese on a casserole. At the age of 3-4 years, children love to tinker with sand, mix loose substances, and sculpt from plasticine. These skills can be used in making dough for homemade cakes or cookies.
Arouse interest
Try to cook with your child what is interesting to him, at least at the initial stage. Make together his favorite chicken cutlets, macaroni and cheese, or vegetable cream soup. Practice these recipes more often, each time giving your child to complete new tasks. Gradually add dishes from unfamiliar products to the menu and be sure to try them during cooking. So the child will discover new tastes and become addicted to healthy food.
We are gaining patience
The most important thing when we teach children to cook is to show self-control and in no case scold for mistakes. Otherwise, cooking will cause the child only negative emotions, and he will lose all interest in it. Remember, it is unlikely to avoid spoiled food, burnt food and broken dishes. Prepare all the necessary ingredients and cooking utensils in advance. This will allow you not to be distracted by small things and make sure that the baby is not burned or cut.
We maintain cleanliness
A mountain of dirty dishes is the invariable result of any family lunch or dinner. And its washing should also be part of the child’s duties. First, teach him to wash his own cup and bowl with a spoon. Ask your child to wipe the crumbs off the table, put the remaining food in the refrigerator, or load the plates in the dishwasher. By the way, many children love to splash in the sink with water and foam, so they are very willing to wash dishes.
We give you a ride
The best way to teach your child how to cook is to give them free rein. Allow him to make a list of products, find them in the store and put them in the cart, under your constant supervision, of course. Once a week, preferably on weekends, prepare breakfast or lunch according to the recipes that the child chooses. Browse through the cookbook together, explore the cooking sites. This will allow the child to feel like an adult and will warm up the interest in cooking.
We help our neighbor
Children are always ready to do something nice for their beloved relatives. They will be happy to help prepare lunch for dad at work or a healthy snack for older siblings at school. Assemble a delicious ham sandwich with cheese and vegetables, pour the dough for chocolate cupcakes into molds, come up with a fruit smoothie, wash an apple and beautifully put it all in plastic containers — for them, a solid pleasure.
We study kitchen utensils
Starting from 4-5 years old, you can introduce your child to new kitchen utensils. Show him the detachable baking pans, rolling pin, pastry syringe, etc. Let your child roll out the cake for the cake or decorate the cake with cream. Usually at this age, children are already quite good at counting, so measuring glasses and scales will arouse his keen interest. Using them for their intended purpose, the child will love to cook even more, and at the same time strengthen the skills of oral counting.
Cooking with heat
Knives and household appliances can be mastered after 6 years. Let’s start with a safe table knife with a rounded end and teeth on a sharp edge. Show your child how to properly cut food without getting hurt. Study heat treatment with a microwave, toaster, or waffle iron. You can gradually let the child to the stove, for example, allow to turn the cutlets or pour an omelet into the pan.
Decorate with the soul
Nothing awakens the love of cooking like a spectacular serving. Even if a festive dinner is not expected, allow the child to string canapes of cheese cubes, cucumber circles and olives on skewers. Think together how to make a beautiful slicing of colorful vegetables, slices of sausage or ham, make fun sandwiches and porridge. And together, you can learn the simplest fruit carving. These lessons will benefit both children and adults.
And yet the surest way to instill in children the desire to cook is by personal example. Cook a lot, often and with pleasure. Perhaps this is what will inspire your beloved child to become an outstanding chef.