Being able to cook is a skill that every human should learn. Of course in today's society it is possible to survive without ever learning to cook, relying on takeaways, restaurants and ready made food, but not only is this expensive, it's unhealthy too. As a result, teaching your child how to prepare meals from an early age is an important lesson that will set them up for living a healthy lifestyle where they can provide for their children too.

The key here is start small and early. It's astonishing how many 18 year old students arrive at university halls and still think that cooked food falls out of the sky. Let your toddler cut their own banana into chunks with a child's blunt knife, after watching you do it with your own, or give them a pea pod and teach them how to open it to get what's inside. Soft fruit and veg are perfect, but when it comes to actually cooking or baking, you might need to supervise them a bit closer.

When your child gets to around age 6 or 7 (or whenever you feel they are ready) introduce them slowly to the idea of heat. Cook something very simple with them where there is little margin for error. Take rhubarb crumble for example. This is very fun for your child as they can get their hands messy breaking up the crumble mix, and letting them stir the rhubarb and sugar as it stews makes them feel involved. Show them how both ingredients are combined and then cooked together in the oven and then let them eat the food that they helped to cook. One recipe that's great for when your kid reaches 8 or 9 is an omelette as there is that margin for error (overcooking or not flipping it properly) but even if they do get it wrong, they can still eat it at the end. This way they'll taste for themselves which is the best way to cook a certain food.

If your child expresses interest in something your cooking then try your best not to tell them 'this is too difficult'. It's not unheard of for an 8 year old to be cooking very successful soufflés much better than their parents ever could, so give them the benefit of the doubt and let them help wherever they can. The only thing to be careful of is knives and if you're going to let your child peel or chop anything then have 100% of your concentration on them for the whole time they use the knife. Within a year or so of them using a knife you'll begin to see how quickly they learn and this will become less of a worry.

Teaching children how to cook can be one of the most fun activities a parent can choose. In addition it's one that will give your child a huge advantage when they come to start looking after themselves and cooking for friends in the future.

Stan Tian

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