Why You Should Cook with Your Kids

Kids love to be engaged in activities, especially those that involve spending time with their parents or grandparents. When children are young, they are fascinated with new things and always take pride in being a “little helper”.

Cooking is one activity that children enjoy doing with an adult. Their first response after the excitement of being asked to help is most likely “let me do it”. There are some important benefits to allowing your young child to cook with you.

Identifying Role in the Family

When young kids are encouraged to take part in preparing a family meal, it gives them a sense of belonging. Even if he or she is an only child, participating in the comforting preparation of a meal allows the child to feel a part of the family.

Many times a child is only allowed to play with their toys, for example. This is entertaining for the child, but it doesn’t identify his or her role in the family. Working together on a task allows for this role identity.

Feeling of Belonging

As a child begins to grow and understand certain roles that everyone plays in the family, there also exists the yearning of belonging. Cooking together and encouraging a child to actively participate in the preparation of the meal makes him or her feel that he or she belongs – that he or she is part of the family.

Cooking together with a child and allowing him or her to do even the simplest things, such as washing and tearing the lettuce to create a salad, causes a child to feel the sense of belonging. This is a critical part in a child’s development and self-esteem.

Understanding Household Tasks are for Everyone

By not identifying cooking to one person’s role in the family, it allows a child to develop in a manner that does not identify certain tasks to certain genders. For example, by allowing a male child to cook with his mother, he learns quickly that not only females cook, but males cook as well.

Wanting a child to see the two sexes as equal is supported by the simple task of daily cooking. The child will then start to understand that the household chores are to be shared with everyone. This can further develop into the understanding that there is no limit to what he or she can do in life with no dependence on his or her sex.

Increasing the Learning Curve

A child learning to assist with cooking the family meal can also be a learning experience in math and reading, which are the two most critical educational contents in today’s world. Showing a child how much a cup of flour is, how to double the recipe, or even how to adjust cooking times for certain meals teaches a child the basics in math.

Having the child read a recipe along with following the steps of the recipe teaches reading, comprehension, and sequential importance. These are all important aspects needed to allow a child to read at or above his or her grade level.