Why You Should Teach Your Child to be an Amazing Chef
Cooking is a skill many parents fail to pass on to their kids, or perhaps haven’t even learnt themselves. However, it is an important one for kids to learn and you should be teaching your child how to be an amazing chef for numerous reasons. Here are just a few:
It can boost their confidence
Knowing how to cook or put together something delicious and healthy is only going to boost your child’s confidence. Praising them (even if the final dish doesn’t taste quite as expected) will encourage them to try again and perfect the recipe they are using.
It can improve their relationship with food
Some children can be notoriously picky when it comes to new food, they won’t try anything they’ve never seen before and will stick to one or two things they know they like. Preparing and cooking food can encourage them to perhaps try more things, from small pieces of carrot they’ve just helped you chop to a new cheese they’ve grated themselves.
It could prevent obesity
It could also help avoid obesity, as they understand what is best to eat and what to avoid – obesity in children in the UK is a huge issue, with more and more under the age of 10 now considered overweight, and something that needs to be combatted.
Jamie Oliver, a well known advocate of inspiring kids to eat healthily, is campaigning that schools aren’t teaching kids how to cook properly and that learning how to make fairy cakes is not enough. With this in mind, start teaching them how to be a great chef at home and let school food tech lessons act as a back up.
It could inspire them for the future
If they love to cook and feel confident in the kitchen, then it could inspire their future career choices, whether they want to aim for a Head Chef job or start their own bakery business from the comfort of their home.
Your actions and lessons at a young age inspire and encourage children when it comes to their decisions and passions. Make cooking one of them and not only will you get to enjoy delicious food cooked by them for life, you will feel safe in the knowledge that they know what they want to do in life and what they are fuelled by.
It can help develop their maths and science skills
Cooking requires a lot of measuring, as well as a basic understanding of what happens when you mix certain ingredients together (especially if you are baking), therefore teaching your children how to cook properly can enhance these skills.
They’ll learn how to convert units into ones they understand better, how to measure out ingredients and what will happen if they don’t put baking soda in their cake mixture.
It’s a great way of bringing the family together
Getting your kids in the kitchen could initially be a fun activity to plan on a Saturday morning, when you all get together to cook pancakes and allow them to measure out the flour and eggs for the mixture.
It could be as simple as asking them to help you make sandwiches and spending time together discussing which ingredients would work best and having a competition on who can create the tastiest sandwich.
However, don’t drag your kids to the kitchen solely for the educational value, it’s a perfect opportunity for some family bonding time and to create lasting memories they can cherish when they’re older.
It can enhance their experience of the world
Kids love to try experiencesmells, textures and tools and the kitchen is the perfect place for this. From pressing the button on a blender and watching everything whizz round, to squidging pizza dough into a firmer ball, kids can enjoy lots of new experiences at the kitchen counter. Enhance their experience of the world by introducing them to cooking and helping them don that chef hat.