by Rosemary Redfern

Created on: March 03, 2010

Pre school children spend most of their time with their mother if she doesn’t work outside the home.  As she prepares meals they invariably ask to help.  Giving small tasks, like stirring a batter, starts to get the child involved.  At this stage they can watch as the pancake cooks knowing they have helped.   Children enjoy arranging food on serving plates, mixing dressings and tossing salads.  This is a time to develop a new level of bonding with the child.  Many adults have happy memories of the smells and warmth of times spent with parents and grandparents in the kitchen. 

The most important aspect of teaching a child to cook is that it should be fun and suitable for the age of the child.  The kitchen is a familiar location and many of the tools and utensils you use will be familiar to them if only because they have pulled them out of cupboards and drawers and played with them. Showing them how to use these items properly makes them feels grown up and trusted. 

Children love to roll out pastry and use cookie cutters.  It gets dirty and bitty but that doesn’t matter.  It’s the learning to handle the material which is important and it will taste the best ever. Putting jam into tarts, spreading butter onto slices of bread, mixing eggs, sugar and milk for custards are easy for them to do. These are safe activities. At this early stage children also have surprisingly fine control of their fingers and hands as when you see them picking up that dropped bead you lost.  Asking them to assemble the ingredients for a dish is an easy task. 

In the process of teaching the child, safety techniques and skills are learnt without realizing it.  When you start to allow a child to use a knife, you warn of keeping the fingers behind the cutting edge and show how to cut safely.  Their sense of achievement in presenting their efforts of chopped vegetables or fruit is a delight.

Asking an older child to keep an eye on the time while a dish simmers helps with learning the time. As the child matures, they can make simple soups by cutting the vegetables and learning about what herbs and spices give added flavors.  It’s fun to have discussions about what herbs and spices are favorites and is that why a particular dish is popular. Inadvertently you are teaching the child the basics of cooking and a love of the activity. 

There are plenty of cookbooks designed for children and if the child shows real curiosity it is useful to be able to give them their own book. The important thing is to engage the child when they show interest and they will develop a skill which will last them a lifetime.

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