Getting your children to eat healthy meals can be tough, but it can be done. One method a lot of parents are using to get their children to eat healthier is getting their children interested in cooking. The hope is that if the child cooks the meal, they will be more likely to eat it themselves. If you want to get your kids in the kitchen, consider the following three tips:
1. Be Patient with Your Child
If your child has interests that lie in other places beyond the kitchen, be patient with them. Start out slowly and simply ask them to hand you ingredients or to find a recipe they’d like to try. As they gain an interest, you will also need to be patient with their skills. It will take time for them to learn how to follow a recipe, to use equipment, and to create an edible meal. However, if you try to take over too much, you risk setting them back and losing what momentum you’ve gained.
2. Show Them the Possibilities
A lot of children believe that they are limited on what they can do. You will find a lot of cooking shows geared towards kids, whether they are competitions or a child that hosts their own cooking show. Also, take them into the grocery store and go up and down the aisles to show them all of what is available to them. The combination of these two things may just ignite a desire in them to start cooking.
3. Give Them Permission
The largest factor in a child’s inability in the kitchen is the parents. Many parents are too hung up on their child’s age to actually let them use a knife or another tool that is required in the cooking process. Even a child of three or four can use a sturdy plastic knife to cut up fruit. By teaching them at a young age how to do these things, you are giving them lifelong skills. A child of six should be able to use a paring knife with supervision. A child of nine should know how to use the stove with supervision. As a parent, if you want them to cook, you first need to give them these permissions.