On Inviting Your Kids To Help in the Kitchen

The thought of my kids in the kitchen makes me want to have a full blown panic attack.  Messes tend to send my stress level through the roof.  When the house is a mess and the kids are being crazy, I get a little (OK, A LOT...sorry for yelling) crazy, too.  I can handle crazy kids if there is some organization happening.  You're laughing at me because life with kids is a constant state of messy craziness, aren't you?  I'm working on finding patience and peace with this, so cut me a little slack.  Deal?

I have never been the type of Mom who invites their children to help out in the kitchen.  Kitchen messes are especially horrific for me.  Most nights, it's a rush to get dinner done and served.  Most nights, at least one of my children has a mental breakdown and cries through the whole dinner cooking process.  Most nights, I am ready for a sedative after the dinner process is finished.  I just figured that having little ones in there "helping" in the midst of the craziest hour of my day might send me right over the edge.  I might have been...I was...wrong.

One of my bigger mommy fails has been missing out on the fun of letting my kids help out in the kitchen.  I wish I would have learned this lesson sooner.  Before a few weeks ago, I bet I could count on one hand the number of times my girls had helped me cook or bake.  Gramma has always let them help her bake things, so I convinced myself it would just be a special Gramma thing.  That took care of the guilt of knowing I was intentionally keeping them out of my kitchen for my own selfish reasons.

Gramma making cookies with Hannah (age: almost 2) for the first time.

A few weeks ago, Hannah asked me if we could bake a chocolate cake together.  I told her of course, but that we would have to get a cake mix first.  You guys, I KNEW she would forget about it by the end of the day and I would be off of the hook.  I had no intention of actually making this happen.  For some reason, it stuck in my head and I got brave.  I bought a cake mix the next time I was at the store and both girls helped bake it.  

Look at those little faces!  They had SO much fun!  The biggest shocker for me was that I had just as much or more fun than they did.  I relaxed.  I let the messes happen.  I LET THEM CRACK EGGS.  It took a little extra time to clean it up, but it was so much more than worth it.  Camden enjoyed every part of this experience.  I think Hannah only stuck around so that she could help lick the bowl, but she had fun and that's what counts!

A week later, Camden helped make green chile chicken soup.  She LOVED it!  There was a point in the process where we had to let the soup simmer for ten minutes.  I told her she could go play and I would let her know when it was time for the next step.  She sat on her chair right by the ingredients and waited through the whole ten minutes.  She was totally engaged.  It was so much fun cooking with her.  She soaked in every part of the process.  From "reading" the recipe to dumping ingredients together to taste testing it at the end.

Little chef-in-training

My new goal is to let the kids help me cook once a week.  Cooking and baking with your kids is always a huge win.  I wish I would have relaxed and started doing this sooner.  Better late than never!  If you feel like I do about kitchen messes, let it go.  Invite your kids to help you bake or cook next time you are in the kitchen.  I promise you will both love it.  If you already do this with your kids, hats off to you!  You are winning!