How Do I Start Teaching My Child To Cook?

You cannot underestimate the importance of teaching your child to cook. It’s one of the most important life skills that any child can learn to enable them to become self-sufficient later in life.

The main questions for many parents are how do I start teaching my child to cook? And when is the best time to do so? In this article, we look at some of the options for starting to teach your child to cook.

Should you teach your child to cook?

Yes, you should teach your child to cook unless you want your child to exist purely on ready meals and takeaways. There are so many wonderful benefits for children if they can cook, some of which we have explored below:

• Encourages healthy eating: By teaching your child to cook you are also teaching them to respect food and to try new foods that they might not otherwise have wanted to try.
• Promotes safety in the kitchen: Safety is one of the most important aspects of teaching your child to cook. By teaching them how to be safe in the kitchen you are passing on essential life skills that will ensure they will remain safe in the kitchen as they grow up.
• Increases social development: By allowing your child to be curious, ask questions and push them out of their comfort zone, you are doing wonderful things for their social development which will rub off in other aspects of their life.
• Helps to build confidence: Creating a safe, worry-free learning space, you will increase your child’s confidence, not only in the kitchen but also in other areas of their life.
• Challenges their problem-solving skills: teaching your child how to cook allows them to solve problems themselves which is extremely beneficial for their development.
• Bonding experience: Spending quality time with your child should be at the top of any parents list – by teaching them to cook you a definitely doing this and helping them too.
• Enjoying a family meal together: Enjoying the fruits of your labour together by creating time to enjoy the food you’ve prepared and cooked encourages family cohesion.

How to teach your child to cook

If you are considering teaching your child to cook, the following tips will help to guide you with the process.

1. Engage them in the process outside the kitchen: Ask them to write down/ draw a few simple ideas that they might like to help you make in the kitchen.
2. Watch children’s cookery shows together for inspiration: There are plenty of child-friendly cooking programmes on TV these days which provide an excellent source of inspiration for cooking with your child.
3. Create child-friendly recipes: Start with simple recipes that don’t require too many ingredients or take too long to cook.
4. Use child-friendly equipment: Ensure your child doesn’t hurt themselves using sharp equipment by investing in a set of child-friendly equipment which will be much more suitable for them to use.
5. Take your child food shopping: Allow your child to source the ingredients for the meal they will be making so they feel fully involved in the process from the beginning.

What is the best age for a child to learn to cook?

There is no set age for a child to learn to cook as it depends on how engaged your child is with the process and if they enjoy cooking and can safely and confidently use kitchen equipment.

As a parent you are in the best position to judge when your child is ready to start learning to cook, however engaging them in simple tasks from a young age will help to build skills and confidence as they get older.

How to encourage your kids to cook

Encouraging your kids to cook can be done by several methods. With kids, it’s often easy to fall into the trap of feeding them the same foods repeatedly, especially if they are fussy eaters. The following steps will hopefully help you engage with them and encourage them to take their first steps into the kitchen and open up a world of possibilities when it comes to food.

• Start simple: Start with basic recipes that only require a few ingredients and minimal cooking time.
• Allow sufficient time: As a parent, you have to recognise that it’s going to take a bit longer, even with an extra pair of “helping” hands. By allowing additional time even to create simple meals you a removing stress from the situation making it more enjoyable for everyone.
• Incorporate music: Kids love music, and it can help to de-stress situations by having something on in the background to create a positive vibe.
• Get some help: Use your child’s favourite TV shows/characters as part of the process to help engage them.
• Use a reward chart: Reward good behaviour and new skills learned as part of their development process. Always remember to praise your child when teaching them to cook.
• Make it fun: Last but not least! Everyone will have a much better time if the process is fun and enjoyable.

FAQs

This short FAQ section will answer some of the most common questions about teaching a child to cook.