For some parents, cooking with kids in the kitchen may seem like a recipe for disaster. After all, there are sharp knives, hot stoves, and plenty of other ways for children to get hurt. However, with the right preparation and supervision, cooking can actually be one of the most worthwhile and cherished activities you can share with your children.
So, why should you cook with children? What are the benefits of cooking with children? Finally, where can you get cooking kits to make cooking with your kids both easy and fun?
In this guide, we will answer all of these questions and more, but first, let’s look at some of the reasons that parents choose to cook with their kids:
Why Cook With Kids?
You might wonder why you should cook with your kids instead of just taking care of the cooking on your own. It’s a fair question, as you might worry that your kids are too young to start cooking with you. Fortunately, there are almost no age barriers when it comes to cooking. You just have to relegate safe, easy tasks to your youngest kids and slowly ramp up the challenge as they get older.
But this still hasn’t answered the central question at hand. Why cook with kids? The answer varies from one family to another. However, here are a few of the most common reasons parents and grandparents choose to cook with their young ones:
- Pass Down Family Recipes – Does your family have special recipes that have been in your family for generations? If so, the only way to preserve these traditions is to teach them to your children and grandchildren.
- Enjoy Quality Family Time – It’s not always easy to find ways to spend time together as a family. Cooking with your kids allows you to create meals for the family while also spending valuable time with everyone.
- Keep Kids Entertained – Kids can get bored pretty easily without structured activities. Asking for their help in the kitchen can keep them busy and happy at the same time.
- Teach Kids Valuable Skills – Finally, cooking with kids is one of the best ways to teach your children valuable life skills that they can use as adults.
5 Benefits of Cooking With Your Children
Now that you know why many parents choose to cook with their young ones, it’s time to dig into the real benefits of cooking with kids:
Build Confidence Early
In a world where kids are exposed to so many different influences at school, home, or even online, it can be easy for your children to feel shy and overwhelmed by it all. From trying to fit in with peers to finding their way in an increasingly complex world, kids can have a tough time building self-confidence on their own. This is why you, as a parent, should try to step in and help your kids become more confident.
Building confidence very early in life is vital to ensure that your child grows into a confident, self-assured adult. Fortunately, cooking with kids in the kitchen is one of the best ways to build confidence. Why? Because your kids can actually see (and taste) what they’re capable of! Even if a snack or meal doesn’t turn out just right, you can encourage your child to work at it until they can create delicious meals of their own.
Improve Math Abilities
If you’ve spent any time in the kitchen, you know that understanding math is key to cooking. Many children struggle with math, often because they find it boring or difficult. Thankfully, cooking is one of the best ways to make math more tangible and easy to understand.
Whether you’re preheating the oven to a specific temperature or measuring ingredients with measuring cups, you have to know how to use numbers to your advantage while cooking. This means that cooking with your kids gives you the opportunity to teach them basic math principles. Even if your kids are already pretty good at math, cooking can help put these skills to the test and reinforce important numerical concepts like fractions, ratios, conversions, and percentages (just to name a few).
Gain Useful Life Skills
Even if you completely remove math from the equation, there are plenty of life skills to be learned in the kitchen. Obviously, there are broader life lessons that you can teach through cooking. For example: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. However, the ability to cook is one of the most valuable life skills you can ever teach your child.
Nowadays, more and more children are leaving home without knowing the first thing about cooking. This often makes them less able to cope with adult responsibilities in the home. It can also make both boys and girls less attractive to potential partners. Alternatively, if you’ve taught your child to cook, you can send them off into the world knowing that, at the very least, they know how to keep themselves well-fed!
Promote Healthy Eating Habits
Research has repeatedly shown that cooking your own food is much better for you. There are dozens of reasons for this phenomenon, but much of it comes down to having a close connection with your food and using better ingredients. When you cook for yourself, you’re more inclined to make things that are delicious AND good for you.
Even if you haven’t done the best job of cooking healthy food for yourself, you can still impart healthy cooking and eating habits to your children. By teaching your kids to cook with natural ingredients and make healthy meals, you can greatly increase the chances that they will take these habits with them into adulthood. You can also help develop healthy eating habits for the whole family!
Bond As A Family
Learning how cooking brings the family together often requires you to see for yourself. That said, it is easy to understand that working together toward a common goal can help create a bonding experience. So, if you want to have more family-oriented activities in your home, try introducing cooking to your children, spouse, and extended family members.
Kidstir Makes Cooking With Kids Even Easier
Now that you know all of the benefits of cooking with kids, you probably want to know how to actually make it happen. This begs a few important questions. For example, what can you cook with a 4-year-old? What about a 5-year-old or a 7-year-old? If you’re trying to gather ingredients and recipes on your own, it can be difficult to gauge how well each meal will work with different age groups.
Fortunately, Kidstir is here to make your life easier. Our cooking kits are specifically designed with kids in mind. From fun games and interesting facts to our augmented reality app and easy-to-read recipes, Kidstir has everything you need to start cooking with your kids. We help make sure that cooking with kids and the rest of your family is easy, organized, educational, and fun!
Do you want to learn even more about cooking with kids? Are you in need of high-quality kids cooking kits? If so, be sure to reach out to Kidstir today!
