Cooking Kids

It’s important that older kids, those 8+, learn basic kitchen and cooking skills starting as early as possible. While we as parents tend to freak out when our kids get too close to a hot stove or open an oven while something’s baking, it’s important that older kids learn kitchen and cooking skills. You never know when you’ll need your child to help out in an emergency, and it’s comforting to know that you’ve taught them safety skills and basic cooking skills just in case something happens.

Starting at around 8 years old, kids should understand how to turn the stove and oven on and off. They should know what the different buttons and knobs do, and how to work the timer and any other equipment you might have on your range. I taught my son by letting him help me make pancakes one day for breakfast. He got the pan ready with cooking spray, and I taught him how to work the different knobs on the stove. I poured the pancakes and he flipped them. I taught him to watch if the pan was getting too hot and how to adjust the heat without putting his arm directly over the cooking food.

Kids between 8-10 should also know how to boil water, heat up soup, boil an egg, get a stuck piece of toast or bagel out of the toaster SAFELY, (no silverware in the toaster when it’s plugged in), how to use a toaster oven to cook chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, french fries and any other convenience snack. And how to put together a couple different simple sandwiches.

The best teaching moments come when you’re already cooking. Let your child prepare the lunch of chicken nuggets and fries one day, where your only job is to supervise and instruct them on what to do next. If you’re making boiled eggs, let them boil the water and check for doneness. Have them help assemble sandwiches, including those with different toppings so they learn to spread mustard and layer meats and cheese properly.

You might think that your child won’t really use these skills right away, and that’s probably true. Most of the time you’ll be the one doing the cooking and they’ll be eating. But we had a situation once where I got really sick in the middle of the afternoon, right before lunch time. There was no way I could make lunch for the kids because my stomach pains hardly allowed me to stand up, and they were both hungry. I told my son to pour them some cereal, but there wasn’t enough of their favorite kind for both of them. I told him to figure something out because I couldn’t help right then. A few hours later I came out of the bedroom and saw a huge mess of peanut butter, jelly and bread all over the counter. He had made both of them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with chips and strawberries. Thankfully, he knew how to make the sandwiches and slice the berries so that they didn’t have to eat cereal for lunch. He was quite proud of himself. He has a cousin who’s older who struggles to even pour a drink for himself because his mother does EVERYTHING for him.  After that, I started teaching Gavin more cooking skills because I realized that he was older and needed more responsibility. I also realized that, should something happen to me, my son could take care of himself and his sister for a short while. That’s a comforting feeling and the most important reason to teach your children how to fend for themselves in the kitchen.

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