Food

Cooking with Children
by Janet Peterson

For Christmas this past year, I gave my oldest granddaughter a child-size apron embroidered with butterflies, flowers, and the words Chef Brinley on it. At age eight, Brinley already is pretty accomplished in the kitchen – she can whip out a cake from a mix by herself, scramble eggs, make sandwiches, and stir up her favorite macaroni and cheese. She likes to help her mom chop, stir, and assemble.

I wrapped the apron in a box filled with all kinds of fun baking goodies as well as a checkerboard and heart cake pans. I want to encourage her to develop her culinary talents along with playing the flute, soccer, and any number of endeavors she will try during her growing-up years. I want her to think that cooking is just an essential and enjoyable part of everyday life. I don’t want the words “I don’t cook” to be part of her vocabulary.

Brinley likes to be in the kitchen because her mom and she have spent a lot of time together there. Stephanie, her mother, makes the best bread in her bread mixer (not the all-in-one-machine.) She’s also noted for her chicken dumplings and chocolate chip cookies. A lot more flour gets spread around the kitchen with Brinley, Ben, and Mandi helping than if Stephanie did it by herself, but the extra mess is certainly worth it in the long run. Her children will continue to learn over the years a lot more than just how to make bread or other food dishes. They will learn that homemade food doesn’t just magically appear–a family member does have to prepare it in the kitchen-unlike driving through a fast-food stop. My grandchildren will learn that cooking is part of the normal routine of happy and secure homes. They will also learn that not everything cooked turns out perfectly and that experimentation is part of the fun. Moreover, they will learn that household tasks, such as cooking, are gifts of service and love-which they can offer throughout their lives.

How will children-the next generation of nurturers-learn to cook if they’re not given practice time in the kitchen? Michelle Beran remarked: “I gained kitchen confidence helping Mom. And she’s inspired me to make dinners for my own family special by presenting great food and having good conversation.” ^[i]

Emma Lou Thayne, a wonderful poet and writer, vividly describes the kitchen experience of her and her five daughters:

“My daughters and I had all come back to the kitchen that had warmed and fed us for thirty years. . . . The air of tomato and bouillon and pepper corns and basil, chocolate and butterscotch ran us all together that day and into the night.

“All our lives we’d bumped bottoms in the kitchen, trying to do fifteen things at once. For dinners when they were little, for parties when they were bigger, for birthdays, holidays, after-school days, before-boating days, we’d been that committee getting ready. In the noisy commotion, we had learned of each other’s deepest concerns and lightest considerations. We’d stirred and mashed and cubed and browned our way through tests and boyfriends, hairstyles and testimonies. . . . The kitchen and being busy allowed an ease not common to other grounds. . . .

“In any kitchen anywhere for the rest of our lives, we’ll be doing it by committee, the six of us. Just as I will season with my mother’s dashes of nutmeg and my grandmother’s sprinkles of sage, they’ll carry into their cupboards and onto their stoves and tables the festive know-how of having learned, bottom to bottom, in a crowded kitchen.” ^[ii]

Another mother writes of her son’s kitchen debut:

“I never put stock in the old notion that a kitchen is the sole province of girls and women.

. . .The culinary arts have all the right ingredients for little boys. For starters, there’s a wide array of fascinating gadgets to play with, not to mention the delicious alchemy of making a mess.

“To earn his Cub Scouts’ Family Member Badge last fall, Nate had to complete the following requirements as described in his official Webelo handbook: Help plan the meals for your family for at least one week. Help buy the food. Prepare at least three meals for the family. . . .

” ‘I don’t know why you complain about cooking dinner, Mom-it’s really fun,’ ” Nate said as he seized a spatula and swirled the contents of another saucepan. . . .

“Served by candle light, Nate’s pan-broiled steak was a remarkable success. . . . I whispered an early prayer of Thanksgiving for the Boy Scouts of America, who were providing a terrific service for busy families of tomorrow. Though my Cub didn’t quite realize it yet, he’d learned how to prepare the most nurturing gift anyone could offer-the gift of a homemade meal.” ^[iii]

After a rather hectic week with a fussy new baby, her husband out of town, and keeping up with three energetic children, meals at my daughter’s home had kind of fallen off from her usual good cooking. Eight-year-old Brinley counseled her mother, “Mom, we’ve just got to get a plan for dinners.” 

Ahh-see what happens when you teach children well-they won’t let you slack off!  Isn’t that wonderful?