Teaching your children how to cook is a difficult task, because most of the kids are not amazed by cooking. But, they still need to be taught, and this is only possible if you keep them involved with yourself in the kitchen. By making your kids learn how to cook, you will be teaching them how to eat healthy and also save the expenses of eating out when they are alone. Once that you kids are aware of how to cook and what are the ingredients used in cooking, then teaching them the art is not a big deal. Here are some of the tips that can help you in teaching your kids to cook.

• The first thing that you should teach your children is to recognize the vegetable and the ingredients that are used in daily cooking. When you are cooking, call your kids and ask them to pass on things that you need when you are cooking. This will help them recognize the ingredients. Tell them the importance of each ingredient and what it does to the food.

• Ask your children to wash the vegetables and also ask them to lay the table and clean the counter once you have finished cooking. This will make them get some responsibility, and you can teach them each important step involved in cooking.

• Once your kid has learned these basic things, then move on to asking them to cut the vegetable for you. However, make sure that you are around when they are doing this. In case they cut their finger or injure themselves you can immediately follow with first aid. When you are between cooking ask your kid to stir the curry or the vegetable that you are cooking. By this, the kid would learn the basic things and how to go about them.

• After this, gradually ask your child to add ingredients in your presence, give them instructions to how much to add and when to add which ingredient. You can start by teaching your child to make his/her favorite food and gradually move on to other cooking.

Below are mentioned the things that you can get down by your children while teaching them how to cook according to the age slabs.

For children in the age group of 4-7 years: Ask them to wash vegetables, make shapes with cutters for cookies, lay the table and roll things for baking.

For children in the age group of 7-11 years: You can ask them to read on new recipes, help them identify ingredients and when you go shopping, take them along, and ask them to prepare the shopping list for the kitchen ingredients. You can ask them to make use of measuring cups to add certain things to the cooking and also stirring the ingredients.

For children in the age group of 11-14 years: Ask them to follow your steps in cooking, teach them how to use the oven and microwave. Train them to cut vegetables and how to use the knife in your supervision.

For older teens: With them, you can ask them to make a full meal, or decide on a party menu and try out new dishes with them. Kids love cakes of different flavors so teach them how to add which ingredient and leave the baking part to them. Teach them how to use a food processor.

With these small tips, teaching your children how to cook becomes easy and fun. However, make sure that unless your kids are become perfect enough to handle cooking on their own, you should supervise them on every step.

Jason Ladock

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