5 Benefits of Cooking with your Children

It takes more than simply bribing youngsters to eat their vegetables to raise an adventurous eater. It takes time and effort to raise a child who can appreciate a cantaloupe as much as a cupcake, but it does not have to feel like a work. We look at 5 benefits of cooking with your children at home.

For children to get over their fear of trying new foods, it may be necessary to have numerous happy food experiences. Cooking with your kids can help develop that confidence over time and offer rich sensory experiences.

1. Use other senses. Trying a new food can occasionally be scary for a hesitant eater. When your child is cooking, you might encourage them to use senses other than taste to discover the meals. This promotes the development of favourable food associations. Touching food and becoming accustomed to texture are required for kneading dough, rinsing vegetables, and breaking lettuce. When we eat, our tongues and noses each contribute a small portion of the complex flavours we experience. Some kids could experience sensory overload when preparing meals using novel components. If this occurs, you might advise that they smell the meal first. This could pave the way for them to eventually taste it.
2. To raise intelligent children, use cookery. Cooking can be used to teach a variety of topics. When following a recipe with children, math ideas like measurement, counting, and fractions easily come into play. Science lectures can be greatly enhanced by describing how food changes with temperature or how specific meals might support the health of our bodies. Practice new words as you describe how food feels, looks, and tastes while cooking with your child. Building the ability to plan and accomplish undertakings by following a formula from beginning to end is beneficial.
3. Make cooking a part of your family’s traditions. As you cook together in the kitchen, the family supper can begin. By handing down recipes, you may celebrate your cultural history while preparing meals for the family. Find new, seasonal recipes with your children to add to your repertoire and family cookbook. Leading by example and encouraging your children to embrace a culture of wellness can be accomplished by cooking together and choosing health over the convenience of manufactured food. Your family’s dedication to living a healthy lifestyle is strengthened by creating daily and seasonal traditions centred around cooking together.
4. Keep it safe. By demonstrating to kids how to hold kitchen tools securely, how to wear oven mitts to protect their hands from heat, and how to turn appliances on and off safely, you can teach them the value of being safe while they are cooking. When they are cooking, always keep an eye on the kids to make sure they are staying on safe, kid-friendly jobs. Being aware of your child’s abilities and developmental stage is the greatest approach to keep cooking safe. While a four-year-old child might not be ready to sauté veggies over a hot pan, they could have the fine motor abilities to tear salad leaves or rinse fruits. It is simple to involve children in the kitchen, even toddlers, as long as safety is a priority.
5. Ask for opinions. When invited to help with meal preparation, kids feel more included during mealtime. When choosing recipes for main dishes or sides, consult your children. Allow them to assist you in creating a shopping list and finding food at the store or farmers market. Let kids comment on the things you are preparing when you are cooking together. You and your partner can determine what components to include to improve the flavour. Share your preferences with one another and talk about how different flavours are enjoyed by different people. Children will feel more invested in meals if they are given the opportunity to be “in charge” of details like how to lay the table.

Over many years, cooking as a family will help develop a happy, adventurous eater with some pretty valuable life skills—and plenty of happy memories in the kitchen. With enough practice, your child will someday be able to cook YOU a delicious meal!