9/8/09

ARTICLE: Cooking with your children!

I used to ask my 2 year old to help me with desserts all the time. I would ask him to place the paper liners in the muffin cups or to pour the milk into the cake batter. (Always far away from oven or stove, of course!) We would have a good time but I didn´t realize I was helping him with much more than that.
When you ask your children to cook or bake with you, you are asking them to enter a part of your life that only you or other grownups are responsible for. This makes them feel involved in household chores that are actually fun! They will be happy to share with other members of the family that they "cooked" dinner, even if they only mixed once. Their fine motor skills are developed as they use their hands as precisely as they can. They learn to follow instructions in order. They also learn to be patient, because as much as they want to eat that cookie, it won´t be done until after 8 to 10 minutes! Most of all there is a special bond between you and your child that can actually help you relax after a stressful day.
So, remember next time you´re in the kitchen, ask your children to help out. Maybe there will be a bigger mess afterwards, but the moment will be quite rewarding for both of you. Be safe!

TIP OF THE DAY

Prepare school clothes, uniforms, clean sneakers or polish shoes as needed at night, before going to bed. Set everything they will need in the morning in a chair in their bedrooms. There will be no more: "Mom, have you seen my left sneaker?" in the morning chaos!

DAILY RECIPE: Garlic/Parsley Tuna Steak

6 tuna steaks
parsley
6 garlic cloves
sea salt
lemon

Place tuna in a baking dish. In the food processor, blend parsley, garlic cloves and salt until a coarse paste forms. Squirt lemon juice on tuna steaks and coat with parsley/garlic paste. Bake for about 20 minutes or until done. Serve with white rice.