Take the Time to Cook With Your Children This Holiday Season
Whether it’s making potato latkes for Hanukkah or baking a turkey on Christmas, family kitchens are often a flurry of activity this time of year. It’s also an easy time for children to take an active role in food preparation, even without aspirations of becoming the next “MasterChef Junior.’’
At Boston Children’s Hospital, Patient Support Director Shawn Goldrick and Hospital Culinarian Paul O’Connor have made it their mission to make cooking together a family tradition to practice all year round. Learning to cook can instill life-long lessons on independence and creativity, they said.
O’Connor and Goldrick encourage parents to ask themselves how their children can contribute to a regular dinner—whether it’s peeling a carrot or adding a dash of salt—so they can get involved in the process. And, they said, if children are more involved in the cooking of a meal, they might be more likely to try what they have made. It can also translate into an increased interest in different foods and dishes.
“We had salmon in the house roasting in the oven, and I asked my daughter if she wanted to put salt and pepper seasoning on the salmon and a little bit of olive oil, and once it came out of the oven, she said, ‘Daddy can I try that?’’’ said Goldrick. “It gave her an opportunity to want to try things because she had participated in making this together.’’
The pair is bringing their at-home experience back to the patients and families at Boston Children’s with an interactive kitchen program called Chef’s Playground, so patients and parents can cook together at the hospital. Over the next five months, they want to launch a Parent/Patient Culinary Academy in the afternoons and a tapas dining setup at night for parents only.
O’Connor and Goldrick have also laid the groundwork to take their ideas city-wide, with the soon-to-be-launched Reaching Out to Cook with Kids (R.O.C.K.S.), an “organization that will celebrate the power and passion of food and support children’s culinary education, wellness and awareness.’’
For both parents and kids, a positive side effect of cooking at home is the promotion of healthy and local eating. O’Connor and Goldrick often take their children out to local farms to pick out the ingredients they will make in their meals together. Instead of stopping to grab a quick burger or pizza, you’re taking the time to create a meal with nutrient-filled ingredients, O’Connor said.
Making mistakes is also a natural part of cooking, which O’Connor and Goldrick encourage parents to embrace with their children. In a day and age when even sitting down together at the dinner table as a family is difficult, what’s most important is making the most of the time spent together around food.
“Don’t put pressure on the fact that it has to be the perfect recipe all the time,’’ said O’Connor. “Just have fun with it and let them choose what to do.’’
Recipes often require measurements and fractions, which also gives children hands-on experience applying math skills in everyday life.
“It’s very tangible to be able to see two 1/2 cups equal one whole cup as you’re measuring ingredients,’’ said Goldrick.
For O’Connor and Goldrick, cooking with their own kids has spawned unique holiday traditions, from blueberry stuffing for Thanksgiving to cranberry bread for Santa. And all it requires is asking a child a simple question: “What would you like to add to this dish?’’
“We’re empowering them to do something they normally see their parents doing,’’ said O’Connor.
This gives children a sense of confidence, said Goldrick. “And I think that kind of allows them to pump their chests up a little bit and think, ‘Wow, look at me, I’m kind of growing up a little bit.’’’
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