The trail mix experiment was such a success that I decided Sydney could help prepare her lunches. I like to get everything for Sydney's lunch ready on Sunday and put each serving into a snack sized baggie, ready to be thrown into a lunch box. Some of the things Sydney likes do need to be cooked (zucchini, peppers, edemame, pasta) and the rest comes from a can (green beans, peas and carrots, beans, olives) or is already packaged for lunch (string cheese). Jeremy does the cooking of the vegetables (Sydney won't eat them if I do the cooking) and Sydney and I are in charge of the rest.I would put each food into a bowl (in the picture, I have poured out a can of peas and carrots) and then it was Sydney's job to spoon the contents of the bowl into the ziplock bags. She stuck with the task for am impressive twenty minutes or so. I then let her chose which three baggies of food went into her lunch box this morning for the sitter.
It may not be actual "cooking," but it did help to get her lunches ready and I hope made her a little bit more invested in the food she eats.
I think cooking with little ones is a great idea. Peter LOVES to stir the eggs and pancake batter when I cook breakfast on Saturday morning. I think it makes them really want to eat it sometimes because they actually helped.
ReplyDeleteThat's my hope!
ReplyDeletei am so impressed! you're very wise to take advantage of her 'helpful stage' and set her up with some good habits. and look how happy she is to be 'cooking'!
ReplyDeleteOk kuddos to you for getting the child involved and all that... but what I'm really impressed with is that you are so happy to call it helping when she has only about 75 percent accuracy rate from bowl to bag! It is really your laid back attitude that will make all this "the best" childhood for her! And double praises for doing so great, and having so much fun with your cooking toddler after having Jack!
ReplyDeleteAs part of a ten year preparation plan for having kids, I watched every single Oprah that had anything to do with parenting, and one expert really resonated with me when she talked about not only letting your kids help, but letting the way they help be more than good enough. One mom said she just had to have her towels a certain way and so she "had" to redo them after the kids had finished. The expert then asked her if she wanted confident kids or perfect towels?
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