Life Skills: Cooking

• “Life skills” are necessary skills that your child will need to become a self-sufficient adult.

• Cooking is the one of the easiest life skill to incorporate into your teaching methods as it is an activity that you already do daily.

• Teaching a child about cooking also includes teaching kitchen safety and food safety skllls as well as how to properly wash hands and dishes and to how to disinfect surfaces.

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What are Life Skills

For me, the term “life skills” includes aspects of home life, social life, financial literacy, mental well-being, analytical skills, and what I will call “life after high school” skills. Life skills tend to be a somewhat overlooked teaching category. But those skills not only help them with life after school but also help them to build independence and confidence. This is the knowledge that they will take with them into the world when they leave the nest and go off on their own.

I have always tried to include “life skills” in our learning process as I see them to be just as important a teaching matter as subjects such as math and language arts. However, as my children have gotten older, I have realized that while I did teach them some life skills there are many that I never even considered. One of the first of the life skills that I began to incorporate in our daily life was cooking. I feel that this one is not only an easy one to incorporate but also one that helps make many memories for both you and your child.

Why Teaching Cooking Skills is Important

Teaching cooking skills isn’t just about giving them recipes. It encompasses everything from making a menu, to grocery shopping, to safely handling raw foods. Getting your child involved in the entire meal-making process has many positive impacts. The simple action of asking for their opinion on what to cook gives them confidence and lets them know that their voice is heard and that their opinion matters. Taking them grocery shopping not only helps them see the value of a dollar but, depending on your personal shopping habits, can show them how to shop sales and use coupons. Letting them help prep for and prepare the meal teaches them safety in the kitchen. All of these lessons will help them in different capacities in their after-high-school life.

What to Teach About Cooking

Learning to cook is not just about learning recipes. So much more goes into making a meal. Here are some teachable points to keep in mind:

• Meal Planning – Getting into the practice of planning meals several days in advance is a great habit. Planning for meals only day to day and having to go shopping for ingredients every day is unreasonable. Teach them how to plan for several days or a week and how to make a grocery list that reflects those meals.
• Grocery Shopping – There are several things that can be taught when grocery shopping. One is where to get the best deals and save the most money. Teach them how to look out for sales or to use coupons. Another lesson is budgeting. Give them an amount allowed to be spent while grocery shopping and let them figure out how to stay within that budget given a grocery list. The third matter that can be taught is how to pick out good produce and meat. Make sure that they know to thoroughly look over the item before they purchase it.
• Proper Food Storage – After the grocery shopping trip is the tedious task of putting away all of the food. However, have you ever really had to think where to put the items or do you do it automatically? You may need to review with your child where items should go such as meat in the freezer or fridge, vegetables in the veggie or crisper drawer, or unripened fruits in a dark environment until they ripen. Also show them that some items can be placed in a cabinet until opened but then must be kept refridgerated.
• How to Properly Handle Raw Foods – Foodborne illnesses such as salmonella, E. coli, and listeria or even parasites can be caught from the improper handling of raw foods. It is important to teach children to wash their hands thoroughly after handling raw meats, to wash raw vegetables and fruits before eating them, and to use seperate cutting boards for meat and veggies. Also point out the importance of cleaning the counters or other areas where raw foods were prepared.
• How to Sharpen Kitchen Knives – This is a lesson for the older teens. Even if you put this teaching moment off until they are getting ready to leave the nest, make sure you at least touch upon it. Dull knives and kitchen scissors are just as dangerous, or more so, than sharp ones. With dull knives you have to use more force and pressure to cut things and that can cause injury. Show them the proper way to sharpen those kitchen tools to get the best use out of them.
• Washing Dishes – While this may seem like one that you do not even need to teach, it is best to go over it. I know many preteens and teens already help with the dish washing but they may not know everything. For example, while most dishes can be put in the dishwasher, some can only be put on the top shelf, and there are some that can not go in the dishwasher at all. There are dishes, especially non-stick pans and ceramics, that you can not use a metal scrub pad with. And then there are cast iron pieces that have different rules all together.
• Recipes – Recipes are what everyone thinks about when teaching kids how to cook. In my experience there are many family memories, such as get togethers and celebrations, made over food. Let your child ask other family members and friends for recipes to add to their own repertoire. Give them the opportunity to perfect their favorites and explore new recipes in the kitchen.

How to Get Everyone Involved

There are many ways to get everyone involved in the cooking process. One easy way is to ask everyone what they would like to eat for one meal that week. You can ask about dinner, lunch, or breakfast. This gets them involved in the decision-making process and possibly makes your job of coming up with what to cook everyday a little easier. When getting your child involved in the actual cooking process, keep in mind their age, ability, and maturity level. Ask your child if they are interested in helping you make a meal, especially one of their favorite meals.

Toddlers:

Every toddler that I have ever been around has like 2 meals that they will eat every day and that’s about it. Therefore asking them what they would like to eat would be less than useless. However, my favorite way to get my little ones involved was to get them involved in the shopping process. I went through several magazines that I had lying around and cut out pictures of grocery items that I regularly bought. I glued each picture onto an index card. For each index card I punched a whole in the top left corner. Before going grocery shopping I would put the items that we were going to get on a metal ring. Then I would let them carry that around while we were shopping so that they could help me get the groceries that we needed.

Older toddlers also love to help make meals. Giving them simple tasks such as adding ingredients to a pan, gathering ingredients, and stirring food are some safe favorites.

Elementary Aged Children:

Elementary aged children are very versatile in ways that they can help and get involved in cooking. They can suggest meals, help with the shopping, and participate with the meal preparation. I feel that this is the age group that gets the most excited to help in the kitchen. They want to join you in what you are doing, they like to be involved. Doing grocery shopping, meal prep, kitchen safety, and cooking with this group not only teaches them important lessons that they will need later in life but also makes great memories for everyone.

Preteens/Early Teens:

This is the hardest group, I feel, to get involved with a family group activity. The best ways I have found to get them engaged is to ask them for their input and their opinion. They will always have an opinion about what they want to eat. I always like to get them involved in the cooking of whatever they have requested. This gives them the opportunity to learn their favorite recipe(s) as well as general cooking knowledge.

Consider buying them a recipe book. By that I mean an empty one where they can write in their favorite recipes. They can get the recipes from you, from other relatives, or from the internet. Another option is to have them write the recipe as you cook the meal together. It helps to enforce the steps and lets them take notes too. This is an activity that I have started with my two oldest children. Even their grandmother has come to the house to teach them recipes.

High School Aged:

Teens are the most important group to engage in teaching life skills. They will need these skills when they start to go out on their own into the world. To get them involved in cooking, begin by asking what their favorite recipes or meals are. These could be meals that you have made, ones that they have ordered at restaurants, or ones that relatives make.

Once they have given you a couple of their favorites, offer to cook those with them. Take a day or two out of the week and plan to cook one of their favorite meals with them that day. Have them write down the recipe as you go along. Like I said, I have bought my oldest two children recipe books. This gives them a tangent object that they can take with them wherever they go and have not only recipes to make but a comfort from home.

When you and your child become comfortable with cooking a specific meal, have them attempt to cook it themselves. Make it a regular weekly activity that they cook one night a week. This gives them practice and the ability to get creative in the kitchen. Who knows, they may decide that they actually like cooking.

Did I miss an important kitchen teaching opportunity that you have shared with your children? If so, please share with the community in the comments below.