{"id":11372,"date":"2012-05-25T15:16:47","date_gmt":"2012-05-25T20:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crankymouse.com\/?p=11372"},"modified":"2012-05-25T19:32:36","modified_gmt":"2012-05-26T00:32:36","slug":"eat-well-spend-less-getting-your-kids-in-the-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/25\/eat-well-spend-less-getting-your-kids-in-the-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"Eat Well, Spend Less: Getting Your Kids in the Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month’s Eat Well, Spend Less<\/a> is focused on the kids and the process of getting them in the kitchen to cook and eat. With summer vacation looming, this is the perfect time to tackle the terrain.<\/em>
\n\"\"
\nWhen I was seven I cooked my first meal. I opened up a worn copy of my mom’s Betty Crocker Cookbook for Girls and Boys<\/a>, and I made roast chicken, green bean almondine, and yeast bread shaped like a turtle. (The turtle actually came from Alpha-Bakery Gold Medal Children’s Cookbook<\/a>. Both books remain in my possession.)
\n
By seven years old I had spent countless hours in the kitchen with my mom, my grandmothers, my aunts. I watched, I sifted, I mixed, I poured. I soaked up every bit I could get my hands on, and then, I started to make my own food. By the time I tackled a full dinner menu I’d already covered casseroles, cookies, and cake.
\n
My mother did not help me with my dinner venture. After all, she was even more afraid of yeast breads than she was of pie crust. It is the pie crust that holds the keys to my very first memory: My mother’s refusal to seek shelter during a tornado, instead trying to conquer the crust in the kitchen, my aunt and I sitting on the steps waiting for her, me just over a year old.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

What Does that Mean for My Kids?<\/font><\/h2>\n

When I think of how I want my children involved in the kitchen, I want to make sure they know how to use the tools there, how to feed themselves and others, and how to keep themselves safe<\/strong> in the presence of everything that’s going on.
\n
On a Skype interview I was once asked to name the key to getting kids to eat a variety of food. Without question I answered that there were three things that stood in importance above all else if you want your kids to be adventurous eaters: get them involved in the planning, the preparation, and the conversation<\/strong>.
\n
I truly believe the first place to start is by giving them a choice as to what they’re going to be doing there. I want them to be a part of the whole process, and for us that means that it starts by involving them in the menu planning, the grocery shopping, and the dinner dialogue.
\n
Now, I realize we’re all busy. I have four kids, a full-time job, volunteer hours, baseball and swimming and band camp, too. (Actually, we don’t have band camp. We have other camps, but band camp seemed more universal.) So, don’t focus on the daily; focus on the overall. It’s a big picture activity. It’s a lifestyle choice.<\/strong> Eat out once in a while. (We had Indian food yesterday.) Allow them to make a mess when you have the time to have them help you clean it up. Make the kitchen a place they’re welcome, but don’t be afraid to kick them out every now and then so you can get something done.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Planning<\/font><\/h3>\n

When we plan our menus each week, we try to get a certain amount of input from the other four people who will be eating the food. Sometimes it’s just one of them, sometimes it’s all of them, but we ask on a fairly regular basis if there’s something they want to eat. <\/p>\n