Y Talk: Make Cooking a Family Affair by Michelle Bell

If you are like me, you have found yourself at home with your family more than usual the past few days. That extra time probably included more meals—and by association more dirty dishes—than you typically prepare at home.

Since you’re eating most of your meals at home and don’t have to rush to eat before heading to school, practices and other activities, this is the perfect time to involve your kids in the meal planning and preparation process.

Teaching our kids to cook equips them with a very important life skill. And since many of them are on an extended break from school, cooking and baking also provides a great way to work in some math and science lessons. You can talk about numbers and measuring and even the chemical reactions in baking.

Start by letting your kids help make some choices for the meal. Whether they plan the main course or select the fruits and vegetables for that meal, let them be a part of the decision-making process.

Once you have a meal plan, figure out which parts of the preparation your kids can handle and then step back and let them do it. Who knows? Maybe they will be more excited to eat the meal since they helped to plan and make it.

If you have older kids, consider letting them take care of the whole process from start to finish while you squeeze in one more episode of whatever show you are binge watching on Netflix.

We are hosting our older son’s college teammate from Germany for the rest of the spring semester, and today she offered to get some recipes from her mom and make dinner for us. I’m not sure she even got the final word out of her mouth before I gladly accepted. Because, if you’re like me, some of the best meals I’ve ever had were made by someone other than me!

Don’t be daunted by the number of meals we still have to prepare during this break from school and work. Take it one day—even one meal—at a time. And maybe even pick up a meal or two from our local restaurants to give them a boost during this time as well.

-Michelle Bell, Marketing Director