Last night we came home from the Dally In The Alley (a music and art festival in Detroit) and decided it would be a great night to make a from-scratch pizza. Instead of having my 8-year-old daughter, Chloe, sitting around killing time on her Ipad I told her to put my apron on and get busy in the kitchen with me. Making a pizza like this is quite the task and I figured this would be a wonderful opportunity to teach my daughter a variety of useful things in the kitchen. Today I will be talking about a few good reasons why it is of utmost importance to get your child busy in the kitchen as well. I think it is essential to teach children how to cook so they know these skills later in life. Teaching children how to cook is a huge responsibility that comes with parenting.
I remember when I was a young girl like Chloe. My mother attempted to get me interested in cooking and I had zero interest in it and did not want to participate in it. My mom was trying to teach me some valuable life lessons at the time but I guess I just chose to ignore it and did not think of it as being important at the time. Even when I was a teenager I didn’t want anything to do with it.
What I did not realize was that I was not allowing myself to learn one of life’s most important lessons.
My only real memory of “cooking” that I have is when I used to go over to my grandmother’s house and she would have my sister and I help with making instant pistachio pudding. The extent of my cooking skills from doing this was just learning how to operate an old-fashioned, manual hand mixer and a soft spatula.
So what was I to do when I moved out of my mother’s house and lived on my own for the first time? I think I did what most college students do… live off ramen noodles, spaghetti marinara, Velveeta Shells & Cheese, and frozen dinners! I really would love for my daughter to have better than that when she decides to go on to college and move out and be on her own. I have ten more years, at least, to teach her things that she needs to know about preparing herself a healthy and nutritious meal. Continue reading “The Importance Of Teaching Children How To Cook – Educating Chloe On How To Make A Pizza From Scratch”
