Cooking is an essential skill to have for everyone and it is a great lesson for your children. If you are the only one in the kitchen at dinner time, then it is about time to get the kids in to help. Whether it is helping out with cutting the veg or making their favourite bakery products, it is a great way to get your children invested in food and will actually encourage fussy eaters to try new foods.
Teach Them To Enjoy Food:
It can feel like an uphill battle when trying to encourage children to enjoy food ingredients so it is best to do it gradually. Once you have managed to get your child interested in new foods, they are more likely to start to make something. A great way of doing this is by having some sort of routine which allows your child to try something new each week. Don’t get discouraged when they say no as it is proven that a child needs to be introduced to something 8 times before they give in. It may also be worth adding some of their favourite ingredients within the meal so it isn’t too much of a shock for them.
Let Them Pick Out the Ingredients:
When choosing new recipes, make it exciting for them. When you go to the shops, take your child along with you, yes, I know it can be stressful, but it will be worth it. Let them pick up the ingredients for you by telling them how much of the ingredient they need. Doing this with fresh fruit and veg are the easiest but you can always help them along the way. It is a great idea to get them to clean and prepare some of the ingredients ready for when you are making the food.
Let Them Get Their Hands Dirty:
When getting children interested in food, it’s sometimes best just to loosen the reigns a little. Let them experiment and help them create super simple recipes such as dough or a batter etc. This is going to get them more interested as they are doing it themselves. When they get older, you can allow them to do more in the kitchen which will act like an incentive for them to keep going. Obviously, if you think your child is more capable of creating simple recipes, then you can of course make whatever they want.
Buy Designated Tools For The Child:
A perfect way to get your child invested in cooking is by going to the shops with them and picking up their own cooking utensils. This could be a little chefs hat, kid-sized oven mitts, colourful mixing bowls, a big grip peeler. You could even pick up a few blank aprons and get them to make some funky patterns on them to personalise. This will get your child excited to cook because they can use all of their new equipment whilst also trying out new recipes and foods.