“Dad, what’s that bottle of milk for?”
“Your mash at lunchtime! Actually, dear child, Mum and Dad put a lot of effort into giving you fresh, organic food at almost every meal. Perhaps it’s time you lent a hand?”
A good idea. Besides perhaps making the cooking parent’s job a little easier, it has several benefits:
- Independence is central to every cutting-edge educational approach. Can you get more independent than being able to make your own food? Quite a few adults have not got that far.
- Cooking techniques can also be seen as games that develop coordination, requiring concentration and dexterity. This does not mean playing tennis with a lemon and two frying pans.
- Perhaps seeing what happens behind the scenes of their mash will even make children more enthusiastic about eating it. They will no longer be served a shapeless mush, but the result of chemistry whose secrets they have practised themselves.
An extract from “Martine Learns to Cook”, not “Martine Runs a Clandestine Laboratory”. Martine is the heroine of a French-language children’s book series.
That leaves the question of what to let them do. To help you get the balance of kitchen responsibilities right, here is an age-by-age summary of recommendations from Casey Seidenberg, an expert in both nutrition and education.
From 0 to 2: involved spectators
At this age, it is better to explore with big curious eyes than small clumsy fingers. Set your child up in a safe observation spot, on the floor or in a high chair, well away from anything hot or sharp. They can play with sturdy, safe utensils, such as wooden spoons or food containers.
From 2 to 3: an introduction to cooking
Before getting hands into dough, teach children always to wash them: the foundation of kitchen hygiene. Provide a stable platform so they can stand at the worktop or sink. Also plan not to be upset when things go everywhere. Your child is not coordinated enough to have deliberately spread those banana pieces all around the sink.
Suitable tasks
- Washing ingredients.
- Bringing ingredients over.
- Wiping the worktop.
- Putting rubbish in the bin.
- Spinning salad—salad spinners are a passion!
- Tearing lettuce leaves.
- Breaking broccoli or cauliflower into small pieces.
- Spreading butter with a blunt knife.
- Cracking an egg, with your help.
- Whisking a mixture, with your help.
- Kneading dough.
Recipe ideas
Sweet mixtures that go into the oven tend to produce lots of happiness. What could be better than combining delicious ingredients, putting them in the oven, waiting, and finally eating a wonderful chocolate cake, cookie or loaf cake? The original article also suggested tasting the mixture with a finger; see the food-safety clarification below.
From 4 to 6: getting serious—but not dangerous
It is time to learn to use real kitchen utensils. But keep well away from the burning temperatures of the hob and oven.
Suitable tasks
- Mixing salad ingredients.
- Peeling cooked potatoes, clementines or hard-boiled eggs.
- Squeezing oranges or lemons.
- Mashing cooked fruit or vegetables—or raw bananas.
- Snipping herbs with scissors.
- Greasing a dish.
- Measuring quantities, with your help.
- Using a blender, with your help.
- Laying the table.
- Loading the dishwasher. The original also included adding a detergent tablet and starting the machine; the tablet must remain an adult’s job, as explained below.
Recipe ideas
Cookies and cakes still work. But to avoid a sugar overload, try recipes that involve mixing without cooking: guacamole, tzatziki, granola or assorted salads.
From 7 to 77: you learn something every day
Every child—and adult—has their own level of judgement, skill and interest in cooking. Adjust your tiny assistant’s responsibilities according to your assessment of their abilities.
Tasks to discover, from the more accessible to the more delicate
- Using sharp utensils such as a vegetable peeler.
- Serving portions from a very hot dish, such as a gratin or soup.
- Using a steamer.
- Using a blender.
- Using the hob, starting with dishes that do not involve boiling, such as scrambled eggs.
- Using the oven, starting with small ingredients placed on baking paper.
- Making a shopping list from a recipe.
- Learning to handle kitchen knives.
- Understanding food-safety principles.
Where can you find recipe ideas?
Cooking is a wonderful vehicle for exploration. You can travel across countries and continents, investigate the past and future, study physics, chemistry, biology… Where should you start?
Do not hesitate to choose at random. There must be a few cookbooks around your home or at the library. Leaf through one together and get started when something inspires you—within the limits of your combined skills.
Dig into your family’s gastronomic heritage too. Share your favourite recipe. Pasta with grated cheese? Yes, that counts. Remember the dishes that marked your childhood and track down the recipes. A grandparent, uncle or aunt will probably be delighted to pass that knowledge on.
The original article also invited readers to exchange questions, recipes and suitable books in Le Paternel’s French-language Facebook group.
Photo: Hannah Tasker.