Teach Them Young

Our grandson who is five came to stay for a few days so I have been teaching him to cook. As well as chopping vegetables such as courgettes and mushroom he loved squeezing the sausage out of their skins to make sausage pasta. I encouraged him to make decisions such as whether to put more tomato puree in the sauce after he had tasted it. I’ve decided that each grandchild will learn to cook a signature dish which they can practice each time they visit until they are old enough to make it on their own.

I feel that teaching children to cook is such an essential life skill. They are more likely to eat foods that they have had a part in preparing and the food they eat when young will form the basis to the food they eat in later life. It also means that they are more confident to go out on their own in life knowing they can fend for themselves.

We also made ice cream as the weather was really good. I froze two bananas after Edward had sliced them and then put them in the food processor with another banana, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and a 1 teaspoon of honey. In other words we all had a banana for our afternoon snack but in the form of ice cream which Edward loved making and loved eating even more. So simple, so healthy yet it felt indulgent.

When children are young everything is play so shopping or cooking can be just as much fun, or more, than playing with their toys. It teaches them creative and dexterity skills and is so worthwhile.