Teach kids to help in the kitchen (without losing your mind)

Parenting

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Teach children chores in the kitchen safely and enjoyably! By giving them age appropriate tasks and allowing them to help when they’re willing, kids grow up with valuable skills and an excitement to participate in mealtime prep. Even the smallest children can help in the kitchen!

Teach children chores in the kitchen safely and enjoyably! By giving them age appropriate tasks and allowing them to help when they're willing, kids grow up with valuable skills and an excitement to participate in mealtime prep.




Do your kids ask to help out in the kitchen as often as mine do? I thought it was cute the first couple of times, and then I quickly realized that young children “helping” in the kitchen are about as beneficial as a small hurricane. I got tired of blanching in abject terror when I heard little voices say “Can we help, Mommy?”, so I finally came up with a few ground rules for our house to keep meal prep as organized (and fun!) as possible.

  1. Before anything else, my kids know that a good hand scrubbing is required to help with a meal! Nothing is grosser than a kid trying to handle food with grimy hands and fingernails. I love Foaming Hand Wash because the foam means my kids are more likely to get the soap in all their little crevices. I’ve seen the way they “scrub” with other soaps and it just doesn’t cut it for me.
  2. Create a schedule for who helps when. In our house, each kid has their own special day according to birth order (Liam’s is Monday, Toby’s Tuesday, Juliet Wednesday, etc). When it’s Liam’s day, he says all the family prayers, gets to choose his seat at the table (by Dad, always) and he gets to help with dinner. [spacer height=”20px”]While I do allow swapping every now and again if both parties are in agreement, sticking with this schedule largely prevents a TON of fighting!Teach your children to help out in the kitchen safely and enjoyably! By giving them age appropriate tasks and allowing them to help when they're willing, kids grow up with valuable skills and an excitement to participate in mealtime prep. Even the smallest children can help in the kitchen! Teach your children to help out in the kitchen safely and enjoyably! By giving them age appropriate tasks and allowing them to help when they're willing, kids grow up with valuable skills and an excitement to participate in mealtime prep. Even the smallest children can help in the kitchen!
  3. Limit the helpers to 1 or 2 kids. This is easy when we follow the above step but if I ever let more than one child help at a time, things escalate quickly. It just gets crazy with 3 or more and there’s fighting and pushing and potential concussions as kids yank stools out from under each other. [spacer height=”20px”]It’s legit scary, yo. [spacer height=”20px”]So for safety’s (and sanity’s) sake, 2 helpers max.[spacer height=”20px”]
  4. Be aware (or better yet, create a list) of what each child can do independently. I know that all my kids under age 8 need direct supervision with a sharp knife, the stove and oven. The older kids can do some of these more dangerous tasks with me in the room, but not necessarily hovering. [spacer height=”20px”]And while it can be tempting to do everything for a child, the dangers are relatively small (a little finger cut or burn) and experience is a great teacher. I’m the biggest control freak in the world but the more I let them do alone, the faster they learn![spacer height=”20px”]Even the smallest of kids can help out in the kitchen, and prep work is the best place to start. Mimi (age 2) loves mixing ingredients, peeling boiled eggs, cutting soft foods with a dull knife and even cracking eggs (into a separate bowl so it’s easy to pick out shells). It’s amazing how excited and happy they are to do the smallest jobs!



    Teach your children to help out in the kitchen safely and enjoyably! By giving them age appropriate tasks and allowing them to help when they're willing, kids grow up with valuable skills and an excitement to participate in mealtime prep. Even the smallest children can help in the kitchen!

Teach your children to help out in the kitchen safely and enjoyably! By giving them age appropriate tasks and allowing them to help when they're willing, kids grow up with valuable skills and an excitement to participate in mealtime prep. Even the smallest children can help in the kitchen!

Even with all these guidelines, I’m still not great at keeping my cool when kids are underfoot. So sometimes I set aside specific, quiet times during the day when they can help out in the kitchen, rather than at 5:27 when everyone’s starving and melting down and I’m hustling to get dinner on the table. Baking a Sunday afternoon treat with my girls or letting Finn help chop vegetables during the babies’ nap time seem to work much better and allow us to have a really good time together.[spacer height=”20px”]

So how do you guys handle helping in the kitchen? Are your kids actually helpful or more of a hindrance?

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4 Comments

  • Reply
    Emily
    April 11, 2018 at 10:24 pm

    Great tips!!! I have found that letting them help when we aren’t rushing is much more pleasant for everyone!

    • Reply
      Bonnie
      April 13, 2018 at 7:54 am

      Yes! It’s so true!! But why do they want to help when we’re in a rush?? 🙂

  • Reply
    Lindy
    May 22, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    This was such great advice. My 12 yo granddaughter’s class is cooking a meal for the teachers in her school tonight. She is so excited. Thank goodness some schools still offer Home Ec.

    • Reply
      Bonnie
      May 22, 2018 at 9:53 pm

      Agreed! So sad that they’re not available in most places!

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