Little Kitchen Helper

I would like my kids to love cooking in the same way that they love eating.  I guess I want to instill in them the value of appreciating food- from the preparation stage down to when the food is about to be eaten.  So from time to time, I allow my kids to help me out in the kitchen.  Sometimes they whisk the eggs when we make pancakes, other times they help me mix my cup cake mix (they like this because they love tasting the uncooked mixture!), sometimes they add the salt, just about anything that they can do at their age.

Just recently I came across an article which tells us the importance of letting kids help in the kitchen.  Here are the list of advantages:

     1.  Understanding- allowing them to help in the kitchen gives kids an understanding of food.
     2.  Connection- it also establishes and helps maintain family connection as you're helping out each other.
     3.  Skills and Confidence- I think this is self-explanatory.  Cooking enhances fine motor skills, gross              motor skills, and confidence.  I would want my kids to grow up always ready to face the world.
     4.  Health-  If we teach our kids to cook, then they would grow up thinking that it is good to cook.               This instills in them the idea that it's not good to eat fast food.  Home cooked meals are still the best.

If you want to read the full article, please click this.  The one good thing I like about this site is the fact that some of the author's recipe's has a section where you can allow your kids to help.  Go ahead, ask your little kitchen helper- it's time to cook!