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Something all grandparents and parents have done for generations: For me, baking with kids requires a lot of explaining and discipline. Remember safety comes first. Kids have always remembered the best part of helping was licking the spoon. When the kids want to help, you need to be efficient, slower, and in teaching mode. You can’t be in a rush. The day you have to make 6 dozen cookies, muffins, or cup cakes for the bake sale is not the best day to start baking with the kids. You can’t expect perfection. Remember learning involves mistakes. You need to mentally relax and let the little stuff slide. So what if it’s uneven, wobbly, or a little bit burned? It’s just food! If baking with your children seems intimidating, remember that you as parent or grandparent have been their first and best teacher. You can teach your children how to prepare food for themselves, but there’s a few things to remember, be patient. Assign tasks at their ability level. Supervise, direct, and expect messes. Keep in mind it’s fun. Simple Steps to Baking with Kids 1. Decide what to make. Cookies are always a good starter. Keep it simple. Just a classic oatmeal, raisin, or chocolate chip cookie will do the trick. 2. Remember, task at their ability level. Read through the recipe all the way to the end. Why is this important? It helps you avoid unpleasant surprises, like the dough needing to be chilled overnight, or the recipe calling for a kitchen necessities you don’t have. 3. Wash hands and put on aprons. It’s not absolutely necessary that they have an apron, of course, but it does protect the clothes and makes the children feel like they’re really bakers. Washing the hands is non-negotiable. 4. Divide up and assign tasks. Be sure that you assign tasks that they can successfully complete. Also, if you have more than one child, you don’t want them arguing over who gets to break the eggs. If one child can measure dry ingredients, then another child can measure liquids, and they can each break an egg if recipe calls for more than one. TIP: Have your kids practice separating eggs when all that’s called for is egg whites. There is zero stress if the yolk gets broken. It’s a good chance to introduce that skill without pressure attached. Also, let the child that breaks the egg do so into a small cup so that eggshells do not end up into the mixture. 5. Get all of the ingredients out on the counter. This will ensures that you actually have all of the ingredients and speeds up the process a bit so that impatient little hands won’t find inappropriate things to do while you’re searching for ingredients. 6. Use safe and stable step stools for smaller children so they can be a part of the action, too. 7. Clean up and put away as you go. Unless you’d like to raise them to be a teenager who leaves the kitchen looking like a war zone whenever hunger strikes, another important lesson should be to clean up after yourself. By cleaning as you go, by the time the cookies come out of the oven, almost everything’s cleaned up! These are just a few tips. If you have more, please submit them. Got any kitchen cooking stories submit them too. |
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Baking With Your Kids |
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