The benefits of cooking with your children from an early age

24th July 2014

Living in a society where everything revolves around being as quick and easy as possible, it’s no surprise we have become bogged down with fast-food taking precedence in our diets and our children’s diets.

Not only does this lead to the obvious issue of increased levels of obesity across the nation but it also means cooking as a family and passing down unique recipes is becoming a dying art. But even those of you who do still make meals at home, how many of your cook with your children? The majority of parents prefer to cook child-free, claiming it takes longer to cook with children, plus they create more mess!

If you involve your child in the preparation and delivery of cooking a meal then yes, it may be messy to begin with but once they (and you) get used to it, they will benefit no end from this activity in more ways than you ever would have thought possible!

 Encourages kids to try healthy foods

Getting your children involved in cooking a healthy meal from beginning to end helps them to understand and learn about foods such as; where they come from, what colour they are, how it feels to chop and peel them and how they change once they have been cooked. These new experiences will make them more adventurous and interested in trying new foods that before, when placed on a plate in front of them, they may not have been fussed about.

 They will feel like they are contributing to the family

Just being there and being part of the process will make your child feel more involved in the family and they will feel happier and content that they have accomplished something positive.

Depending on your child’s age, depends on the level of activity they can get involved in. For instance, if your child is only 3 or 4, they can help with get ingredients for a salad, such as peeling lettuce leaves and placing cherry tomatoes in the dish, whereas a child of 10 could help prepare the rest of the salad with your supervision.

 More likely to sit down to a family meal

Your child will want to see the looks on your faces as you tuck into the lovely meal they have helped create, so you will probably find they will want to sit down and eat with you, together as a family, rather than in front of the TV or in their bedrooms. This will enable you to spend quality time together as a family and catch up on each other’s days whilst enjoying a lovely, home-cooked meal.

 Helps improve their Maths and English skills

Following recipes and methods will help improve your child’s English skills no end. Not only this, but measuring out ingredients will also enhance their Maths skills too, with you on stand-by to step in if they get stuck and need encouragement.

 Patience to see something through from the beginning to end

One thing never associated with children is patience. Kids tend to lack patience and want to do everything straight away! However, with cooking, they will learn to become patient which is an excellent skill for them to learn as they will appreciate that things are worth waiting for – when they have a yummy dinner at the end of it!

In the long run, cooking with your children from an early age will help them learn, develop and enhance skills they can use for the rest of their lives. It will instil good eating habits they will hopefully take into their adult lives, making them healthier and better educated about how to live a healthy life.

Here at Tiny World, we help encourage healthy living in children from a young age, so if you’re looking for a supportive and trustworthy children’s nursery in Nottingham or Mansfield, please get in touch with our friendly team today.