Fun in the Family Kitchen

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

20 Jun 2007 06:26 PM

I'm a big believer in having children help out in the kitchen. For one thing, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. It's fun to have company. For another, while kids cook they learn about science, measuring, and chemistry. I also think it is part of my parenting job to teach them at least basic kitchen skills. Later in life they will need to feed themselves and their own families.

I picked up The Family Kitchen: Easy and Delicious Recipes for Parents and Kids to Make and Enjoy Together by Debra Ponzek. After looking her book, I'm even more convinced it's important to have kids in the kitchen. She talks about her own children learning about the environment, geography, and even history while sharing kitchen time. I also appreciate her emphasis on safety and good kitchen sense.

The recipes are arranged by order of difficulty. Ever recipe has a side note labeled "Call the Kids" with bulleted ideas for tasks that most children can undertake. Kids can measure cheese, dice peaches with a blunt knife, hull strawberries, oil a pan, soak skewers, beat butter and sugar, sprinkle toppings, and much more. It's really fun to have a list for kid jobs. Following those lists are other side notes called "Use Your Judgment". These tasks are for older children who are also experienced in the kitchen. These involve using knives, pouring batter onto a griddle, or stirring a dish on the stove.

A lot of children's cookbooks seem to concentrate on making the food cute, like making sandwiches that look like dinosaurs or puppies. This cookbook has real food that sounds and looks delicious.

I am anxious to try Raisin and Apricot Breakfast Cookies, Mango Yogurt Dipping Sauce, and especially Chilled Peach and Strawberry Soup. Some of the chapters are Breakfast in Bed, Snow Days, and Summer Picnics. What a fun cookbook discovery!

More on Cooking with Children:

Homemade Lemonade

Letting Toddlers Cook

A Kid Cook (book)

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

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