10 Steps For Cooking-Up Family Memories
The kitchen is the perfect place for making memories. When you
spend time baking, cooking and enjoying meals with your family,
you create happy memories you and your children will cherish
forever.
The benefits of preparing and enjoying food as a family are
clear. You save money and eat healthier meals. You create
opportunities to connect and communicate with your children and
spouse. And most importantly, you show love for your family when
you spend time cooking and eating with them. Children of all
ages need your attention and your time. By working together to
create a meal or bake a batch of cookies, you spend valuable
time together.
So, here are 10 steps to get your family cooking up memories.
Step 1: Teach small children the fun of cooking by helping them
bake cookies and cakes. If you are short on time, you can use a
boxed cookie mix and spend more time decorating.
Step 2: Encourage the littlest ones to play pretend cooking.
Kids love to play with real mixing bowls, strainers and wooden
spoons. These make harmless toys and can be easily thrown in the
dishwasher for quick cleanup.
Step 3: If you live by your day-timer, schedule in baking
cookies with your kids. Our schedules can be so hectic that
something as simple as baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies
can get skipped over. Write it down and do it.
Step 4: If you have teenagers, let them play their favorite
music while they wash the lettuce and set the table.
Step 5: Work together with your spouse to prepare the dinner and
use the time to catch up on each other's day.
Step 6: Even if you are in a rush preparing dinner, remember to
reduce your stress and focus on creating a fun atmosphere that
naturally encourages the whole family to participate.
Step 7: When spending time preparing food with your children,
include lessons about healthy eating choices. Keep the
conversation positive and avoid listing foods they can't have.
Step 8: On days where you anticipate time will be tight,
consider taking a short cut by using a frozen stir-fry mix or
pasta with a jar of pre-made sauce. Your family will appreciate
your relaxed mood much more than a made-from-scratch dinner.
Step 9: Share the job of grocery shopping. One week have mom
take one of the children as a helper, the next week dad can go
with another child. Always work from a grocery list and let your
children help you retrieve items and cross them off the list.
Step 10: Have big family meals where you share about your day.
Keep the conversation fun and avoid negative lectures over
dinner. Remember to laugh.
Take these steps today and make your kitchen a fun and memorable
place for your whole family.