Welcome to the Week of Repeats. This post was originally published March 13, 2008. Ooh, my boys have grown so much in a year. (And cooking with them is sometimes still crazy…)
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Let’s all just take a moment to pause to recognize what most of us feel most of the time in regard to cooking with our kids:
*It’s easier to cook without the kids in the kitchen. You can get it done faster…and it also doesn’t take nearly as long…and you don’t go so slowly.
*It’s not as messy. Not NEARLY as messy.
*You can think more clearly when they’re not helping you.
*Using only your two hands seems so much easier than having all of their extra hands trying to reach over and dump in extra flour…especially when the recipe doesn’t call for flour.
*It just takes more work to include the kids in the kitchen. It does.
Yesterday…all four of mine were helping me make monkey bread.
Do you know how many hands that is?! Do the math. Four boys, one mom…I think it comes out to something like two hundred and forty seven hands. All needing the butter bowl at the same time.
I found myself at one point…as the noise level rose in the room and as the excitement level over monkey bread rose…and as more and more hands were covered with butter and cinnamon… and they kept licking their hands and then sticking them back onto the dough…and almost touching my nice shirt with their grimy hands…and the phone rang…and we needed more butter melted…and the first pan was full and we needed a second one…
AND I WAS TRYING TO TAKE A COUPLE OF NICE PICTURES FOR THE BLOG SO I COULD SHOW YOU HOW WONDERUL HAVING YOUR KIDS IN THE KITCHEN CAN BE!!!!
I was like, “WHOA GUYS!! Can you just relax and have fun with this? Instead of making it such a crazy event where we’re all getting messy and touching things we shouldn’t? Just relax and have fun, okay?!”
And they all looked at me for a second…and then got back to rolling dough in butter and cinnamon…
‘Cause I’m pretty sure they were relaxed and having fun and didn’t know what my problem was.
So, yeah.
Just because I’m writing this series on Kids in the Kitchen doesn’t mean I wouldn’t sometimes rather write a series called, “How to cope with all the quiet time you have as a mother alone in your kitchen while your kids are happily playing in the next room…”
Or…”How to get your kids to watch more TV so that they will hurry up and get out of the kitchen…”
Okay, so having said all of that…and establishing that it’s not always easy to have our kids in the kitchen helping us…I do have some tips for making it easier to have 247 small and grimy hands in the kitchen at once:
1. If possible, have ingredients and kitchen tools out and ready before you call in the troops to help.
For instance, if we’re making individual homemade pizzas…it is SO much easier to have all the pizza fixin’s out and ready to go first.
2. Instead of having all of your kids in the kitchen at once to help…let them take turns.
If we’re rolling out cookie dough and cutting it with cookie cutters….only one guy at a time gets to come in and roll and cut. This gives me special time with each one, and makes for a lot less chaos.
3. Keep it short for the short people.
If they’re little, they don’t need to be there for the whole process of watching you knead the dough for ten minutes, and then watching the dough rise…. Spend five minutes pouring and mixing…or tearing up lettuce for a salad…and call it quits. Short time segments and short jobs for the little guys.
4. Accept that it will be more difficult.
When you have your kids in there helping you, just realize that it’s going to be messier, take longer and in general be more difficult than it would be if you alone were throwing the meal together. If you plan on it being perfect and blissful every time, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
5. Laugh.
Sometimes, the beaters go a little crazy in the hands of the little people…flinging batter all the way to your neighbor’s house. Sometimes flour gets flung all over…giving mom a mustache and white hair (in more ways than one). Work to teach your kids how to cook without making big messes…but learn to laugh with them when silly things happen.
6. Keep trying.
Even though it is a little hectic (a lot hectic) at times…keep pulling your kids in there. The more you cook with them…the easier it will be…and the more they’ll be learning.
7. Remember your purpose.
What is it all about anyway? We want our kids in the kitchen with us. They need to learn the art of cooking. You are making sweet memories with them. Focus on why you’re spending this time with them in the kitchen…and know that you are doing a great thing!
Now, go get those kids and bake something delicious. And then, go soak in the tub so that you can relax… (And so that you can get the honey out of your hair. How did THAT happen?!)
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Visit Tammy’s Recipes for more kitchen tips.
Marnie says
Ah, such a fun post. Originally posted on my birthday too. :-) I am sure it was lots of fun!
Kristy Howard says
I just love this post, Laura! Our two little girls are always SO anxious to help out with cooking… sometimes I really have to stop and refocus on what is more important: keeping a clean kitchen or teaching my little girls how to be happy homemakers (it always helps if I’m happy!). :o)
I just posted pictures of my my three lil’ helpers in the kitchen this morning.
~Kristy
MommyAmy says
Such an awesome post! Glad you decided to share it again for those of us who weren’t here when you wrote it the first time. :)
For those who are interested Learning Tower is giving away one of their really cool wooden towers for kitchen helping every day this month on Facebook. I just entered every contest that I could last night because those things are SO COOL!
Roberta Anne says
But all worth it as my two year old great grand baby was getting an apple for a snack. We were both holding the knife but… chop… chop… chop… were all from her. She so loves to stir and pour too!
Have a Wonderful Day!
from Roberta Anne
Carmen says
Laura, thanks for this great post! It really made me smile. I love cooking with my three little boys, but I often lose my patience before I get to the finished product. These are some great tips.
Laura Lee @ Wasted Textbooks says
Totally wrote about this over the weekend!! I have the extra trouble of a 32-square foot kitchen, so taking turns is indeed necessary for Momma to keep her mind from being lost in the batter and thereafter baked to a crisp. :D
Sherry says
What fun! My kids love to help cook. I would like to have them in the kitchen with me more often, too. WE made a strawberry pretzel salad together this past week and tomorrow we’re going to make a peanut butter pound cake. :D
Elizabeth says
Laura, as always your post is inspiring. I love having my girls in the kitchen with me. And I must tell all of you that the time and effort is well worth it. This morning my husband and I woke to fresh baked cinnamon raisin scones and brewed coffee. What a treat our girls gave us. My 11yo dd is in charge of the family lunches and also make dinner at least once a week. Her 8yo sister is not far behind. The little one, 2yo, love to help all of us. I think she has 247 hands all by herself. I have a cute post on my blog about the girls making diiner. You can check it out here: http://heartfelthomemaking.blogspot.com/2008/12/dinner-sister-style.html
Amanda (Crunchy Christian Mom) says
Oh, this is all TOO TOO TRUE! Thanks for the dose of reality and common sense — without giving up! :)
Donna says
lol
You make it sound sooooo fun! ;-)
Keesha @ We Eat Cheap says
Great post!!! I have an 18 mo old and a 3 1/2 yr old who both love to help, and sometimes all that help in my tiny little kitchen stretches my patience to its limits! :)
sarah says
This is probably the sweetest post I’ve ever read; what a mommy! It means so much to our children when we purpose to spend time with them and sometimes it’s so simple and easy.
Dawn says
Thanks for the cooking ideas. I often find I don’t have the kids help me because it just gets too crazy with all 4 of them trying to do stuff. Love having one at a time help out and having ingredients out beforehand so you’re not searching for stuff.
Jamie says
Oh I needed this. It is a true test of patience to have the four boys (7 and under) in the kitchen with me. The love baking…but I love baking so sometimes I need to take a minute to chill out and remind myself that I can bake alone when my children are grown.
Jamie says
*they love baking, not “the love baking”