Читать книгу The Yummy Mummy’s Family Handbook - Liz Fraser - Страница 50

When the children help to cook their dinner they always eat much more of it—probably because of all the effort that went into it, but I think it’s also because they like the idea of trying what they have made. They are proud of it, and I know they will be able to cook healthily for themselves one day.

Cooking with my mother is something I remember very well and she passed on all of her recipes, techniques and clever tricks to me. I then discarded the bad bits (putting cottage cheese in a lasagne) and kept the good stuff (cleaning up as I go, keeping one chopping board for onions only, etc.) and I shall pass these edited highlights onto my kids.

Even if children aren’t actually doing anything, just being with you in the kitchen and watching what you do can rub off a lot: I learned how to knead dough by watching my granny squish hers to death with her scarily strong hands; and my mum’s well-trained sense of ‘Oh, that must be roughly four ounces of flour? Just chuck it in and see what happens’ is invaluable. Perfect scones and no fuss.

Nurturing an affinity and a familiarity with food is essential for children to have a positive relationship with it for the rest of their lives. It also teaches them essential lessons in how to cook healthily for themselves, and to be aware of what goes into their meals. But it takes time and you will have to be prepared to get a little floury along the way. The following tips should help:

Don’t rush. If you are pre-menstrual, the dishwasher man is due any minute and your two-year-old is getting tired and fractious, then it’s really not the best time to suggest a communal cooka-thon. Cooking with kids means Things Will Go Wrong, and you need loads of time to spare and a good sense of humour. Snapping at them when the egg so inevitably ends up dripping into the cutlery drawer will put them off for life. ‘Never mind—you’re doing really well’ is much more what they want to hear, even if that’s bollocks and you all know it.

Get the kit. If it entices your mini Raymond Blancs into the kitchen, then get some gorgeous children’s aprons, chef hats, mini mixing bowls, wooden spoons, chopping boards and biscuit cutters.

Let them invent their own. I know it will taste disgusting, you know it will be a waste of ingredients and they know you will hate it, but letting them add bits of this and dashes of that is a great way to get them excited about cooking. If it’s something like soup or a fruit cake it doesn’t really matter what they chuck in so long as it’s edible.

Get them to clear up. Every chef worth his or her Michelin star knows that the cooking is only half the job, and that it’s the cleaning up afterwards and storing the leftovers that really separates the good eggs from the lazy yolk. When your children see how much work goes into putting everything back as it was, they might try to get some of the batter into the pan next time, instead of all over the hob.

And dinner is served! Again, the patience of a saint is required here, but children love serving up the slop they have cooked, and staring to see if anyone likes it. Best to pretend you do, but not enough that they will ever make it again.