I'm trying to teach my girls to bake. They really love it but they're... just plain messy. I can't walk across the kitchen without feeling like I'm crunching granulated sugar beneath my slippers and I'm tired of sweeping. How can I encourage them to be more careful?
You could try making them clean up after themselves.
How old are they?
Teach them to sweep floors! or go barefoot, eeek!...
Don't be too picky or it will spoil their fun... I Never cooked anything at home before I got married, I couldn't stand my Mother watching me.
Rina
Teach them to sweep floors! or go barefoot, eeek!...
Don't be too picky or it will spoil their fun... I Never cooked anything at home before I got married, I couldn't stand my Mother watching me.
Rina
I let my 2 year old hve her own "ingredients for her cake" whenever I bake anything - it keeps her busy (mostly measuring and mixing flour, sugar, water and cinnamon). I have 3 old, rubber backed rugs (you can get pretty cheap ones at meijers, target or some other discount store...) and I put them on the floor so that the edges of the rug butt up about two inches up the three sides of the L shaped countertop where my little one works (we have a learning tower for her to use - I HIGHLY recommend them if you have anyone ages 2-6 and you bake alot - keeps them on one place and they can see what you are doing up there and "help" you). Anyway
- the rugs catch everything and I just toss them in the washing machine. HTH!!
sherry
It's one thing if the girls are 6 and 8 years old and quite another if they are 22 and 24 years old.
Right... we still don't know how old these kids are. Gosh I would hope she's not sweeping up after 20 year olds!
I'm guessing they are 8 to 10, 'cause you don't teach toddlers to cook, you just let them "play" with the food to keep them busy while you cook.... and everyone know that teenagers already know Everything!
Rina
I was cooking by the time i was in kindergarten. Not terribly complex stuff, true, but cooking all the same.
Jenny Caruso wrote in news:BF7_c.7565$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com:
Part of learning to bake is cleaning up. Try teaching that as part of the process. My children are all grown, but I still run my little robot vac in my kitchen every day. The name is Roomba and it's made by iRobot. Very helpful even without messy little ones.
Sheila
De-lurking to add my empathy. It drives me completely crazy (short trip!) when my kids make a mess while "helping" me cook. I have 5 kids, ranging in age from nearly 13 (only cooks when forced to) down to twin girls, age 4, who love to help and taste everything.
A couple of years ago, I never let the kids help. It bugged me too much to clean up the mess. My husband told me I was doing them a great disservice, and that they'd never learn to cook if they didn't start when they were interested. I should just let them help, relax and enjoy the process, knowing the most important part was building a good relationship with my kids. Floors can be swept, but kids are only small a short time.
I don't mean to preach - what works for me won't work for everybody else. My house is far from spotless - but then, it always has been that way! :-) I do try to relax and enjoy it more, and that helps keep me somewhat sane.
BTW, that thing all the parent "experts" tell you about letting the kids help cook and they will try more foods? Bolony! My middle child, known online as Miss Fussy Rose, won't try anything new, but absolutely loves to help cook!
It makes me wonder how safe children are in a home run by parents who can't figure out how to deal with this issue without asking complete strangers.
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