Important Life-Long Benefits of Kids in the Kitchen ~ My thoughts as a Registered Dietitian

[@rolandabradley6193]

I have one daughter...she is 10 now and she has always loved to be in the kitchen with us...from probably age 2....we had a special thing that she could stand on to make her high enough to be at the cabinet and she couldn't fall off....always loved helping with cooking and baking and everything else you mentioned. (we also have those knives for kids too). She has always been excited about it and now can cook and bake pretty much by herself too. (certain things).

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

I know the little stand thing you’re talking about…those are cool! It’s fun to see how they blossom and venture out to do things on their own

[@jolenethornton3787]

Love this reminder. I was a preschool teacher at Head Start for years, they provided a lot of training about having children help in the kitchen. And even with all that training, I don’t do it enough with my son!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Nice! That’s awesome! Never too late to start with your son

[@RockSimmer-gal4God]

My kids love to put the food away!!! We are all deciding where stuff are going. We are deciding together what cabinets are storing certain foods in our new house, I’m asking our kids to help us with that process. We try to get our kids to cook.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

That’s a great way to add them

[@SevenInAll]

I love that you made a video on this! I think there are so many benefits to letting your kids join you in the kitchen. We learn a lot about safety and I'm with them the whole time, but my boys love to stir the pots on the stove, and to even help me cut and prep veggies for dinner (I often found that they will eat more raw veggies while we chop them up than they will actually eat the cooked veggies on their plate at dinner, lol! And yes, such an important community building skill for them to help in cleaning up meals, and not just running off to play as soon as they finish eating.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

My girls prefer raw veggies over cooked any day too! Maybe it’s a kid thing??

[@sarasali1366]

Love this! We have a lower cabinet for the “kids dishes” so they can reach it easily, and silverware is such an easy thing for them to help in for sure! I’ve got my 7 year old doing laundry (he’s autistic, so this is a huge deal) and he LOVES doing it!! Hug wins! Thanks Lauren! Love your channel.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

That’s a great idea!

[@worldofweeze]

Your video was great, Lauren!! Thanks for joining with me! 🧑🏽‍🍳

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Thank you for collabing!

[@tiffanycooper4751]

Thank you so much for reminding me of the importance of involving my kids in the kitchen! Great video!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Thanks for watching 🥰

[@tiffanyharris7695]

I love this. My 12yr old has Eosinophilic Esophagitis and is literally allergic to all foods and lives off hypoallergenic formula.. that being said he absolutely loves to cook with me. He can't taste it but loves creating new things by smelling the ingredients and deciding what would be good together. I have 3 boys though and they are all responsible for helping with dishes and other food prep as well as other home chores.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

That’s so sweet he loves to help out and use his other senses to get the food experience. It sounds like he’s making the best of it…what an awesome guy!

[@Melissa-jq2qn]

Thank you for this! I am usually guilty of doing all the things myself instead of letting my kids learn those new skills.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Totally get it!! Start small and go from there

[@lifewithginab]

Love watching your girls in the kitchen!

[@Lifewiththecanos]

Love this. My 4 & 6 year old take turns emptying out the dishwasher and putting them away. And they also set the table for dinner. But I definitely have to start asking for their help with dinner prep.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Sounds great! You could start with little things and work to more advanced cooking and food prep

[@carinthiamontana7069]

Thank you! That’s a great reminder! We are doing fine on the cooking but my children have yet to learn how to properly store the food. I would love it if you could do more videos on nutrition and how to teach it to children!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

I’ll try to add some in here and there ☺️☺️

[@SummerMeyers]

This was such a good video with great information. I loved that you talked about how to include little toddlers! I love cooking with my little man--cookies mostly. But your reminder that he can also peel a little orange or hard boiled egg! Yes mama! 👍❤️

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Get the little one started, he’ll love it!!

[@lifewithginab]

I love getting the kids in the kitchen and really like your suggestions! Great video!!!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Thanks Gina!

[@threearrows6906]

Great video! Ordered those knives!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Thanks! And hope you enjoy the knives! ☺️

[@worldofweeze]

Your cabinets are beautiful 🙂

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

lol they’re getting updated (hopefully sooner than later)

[@worldofweeze]

@@thepracticalhomeschooler That's exciting!!

[@SummerMeyers]

Freezer food in the pantry! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ TRUE LIFE!

[@worldofweeze]

🙊🤣🤣🤣

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

It’s always something lol