Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen (no such thing...)

A chef, I am not. I don't hate cooking. I don't love it, either. But it is something that MUST be done. Kids have to eat. And during the summer time, they don't eat at the cafeteria for lunch, so I am left to prepare three meals a day for my four (and me)! Well, not really.

It is a rare, rare day when I make three meals, in the course of one day. As I've written before, the kids typically get their own breakfasts on most mornings. (A little change to our schedule this week, so I am making their big breakfast on Wednesday, rather than Monday: Cinnamon and vanilla French Toast with whipped cream). Lunch, well lunch is often left to them as well or we make it together. I try to teach them something creative to do for lunch. Sometimes we all make our own sandwiches, or mini pizzas on English Muffins or grilled cheese sandwiches using the toaster and microwave. Tatum (11) actually enjoys making lunch for everyone, so I try to get things she can prepare and serve to everyone else. The kids LIKE cooking. All of them. They've helped me in the kitchen in little ways, for a chunk of their lives, but I find myself impatient at dinner time when I am trying to get dinner on the table and they are wanting to 'help.' Dinner time is the time I am mostly likely to snap at them, or ask them [shout] to leave me alone. But, I had an idea right before Christmas, which kind of turned things around for me...

For Christmas, I gave each child an appliance. Yep. That was my main gift to them. I gave them an appliance, and a clear container filled with cooking stuff. Tucker got a Quesadilla maker. Tatum got a cupcake maker. Haily, a donut machine. And Paige a mini-pie maker. NOT kid appliances--no Easy Bake Ovens in this house. Real appliances. Real machines! I then went to the dollar store and bought each of them measuring cups and spoons, a mixing bowl, whisks, oven mitts and other stuff like sprinkles, cake mixes, icing, cupcake paper liners and powdered sugar from Target. Tucker got a couple of bottles of hot sauce, flour tortilla shells, and his favorite salsa. I tucked a couple of cans of pie filling into Paige' container. Each child got a [very cheap] cookbook related to their appliance. All of the items were placed in their containers. I printed [in cute letters] the name of each child on his/her container and on the outside of the mixing/measuring bowls. They loved their presents!

Haily's Box! Each cost about $15 to assemble. The appliances each cost about $30.

I picked a day during Christmas break for them to take over cooking for the entire day! Haily made us donuts for breakfast. Paige made potpies for lunch, Tucker made quesadillas for dinner and Tatum rounded out the day with cupcakes for dessert. I was in the kitchen to supervise the day...but the kids did the creating. It was AWESOME! [I was really tired, even though they had done all the work. Teaching, instructing and overseeing can be exhausting...but so worth it!]

Since then, I have regularly asked the kids to cook dinner. On their own. I make sure there are a few simple-easy throw together meals they can prepare and serve. No-cooking type meals for Haily and Paige (Cheese and crackers with rolled lunch meats and a side of fruit, for example). Tucker and Tatum are both capable of using the microwave and oven, and they make more complicated stuff. Tucker loves making us quesadillas and Tatum finds an occasion almost weekly, to make us cupcakes.

All that is to say, cooking is not a chore for me....or them...because we do it as a family. We cook for each other. We are in the habit of preparing food for each other. Is it always the healthiest meal? No. Is it something Paula Dean would serve her guests? No. But it's fun. And it's family. And it helps me. It helps me A LOT!

Mom Thought: In the girls' containers, I made sure they were each given little paper boxes and cute, clear bags. The idea was to teach them to make treats to share with neighbors, friends and teachers. The goal is to raise generous, thoughtful grown-ups; people who will look for way to bless others with tokens of appreciation and treats. I want my children to become adults who LOOK FOR WAYS to make a difference in someone else's day by making an effort, sowing kindness and giving. It starts with little things like cupcakes or mini-pies. I took them to a neighbor's house and stood there while they knocked on the door and dropped off their home-made goodies. The neighbor didn't know what to say. I guess, these days, getting goodies delivered to your door by a set of nine-year old twins and their mother, is an uncommon thing.