September 13th is Kids Run the Kitchen Day
 

Whether you celebrate Kids Run the Kitchen Day or not, it's a great excuse to introduce cooking to your littles!
 

Encouraging kids to help with food preparation has many benefits for parents and kids alike. Park Property Management Inc. has a few great ideas to help make cooking with kids a piece of cake!

Start slow

Children are naturally interested in cooking, all you have to do is invite them in! To some, it's a special treat when they get to stir the ingredients in the bowl or help pick out what's for dinner. To get started, encourage them to watch and ask questions. Give them easy tasks to do, that will set them up for success. As they gain more skills and understanding, challenge them by letting them take the lead, under your supervision.

Pay attention

While you are cooking, pay attention to what your kids are interested in. Are they interested in prep work or how dinner is made? Do they prefer baking to cooking? Once you know how they'd like to get started, you can start to invite them into the process. Kids love to help, when you see an interest, ask them to help you.

Safety First

It's important to keep safety measures in mind while kids are in the kitchen, however there are lots of tasks that are safe for them to do like washing produce, measuring ingredients, or stirring the bowl. Decide what you are comfortable with and what tasks will best fit your children, then get started!

Loosen up

Treat it as a family activity and incorporate tasks for kids of all skill levels to do. Even if the task is simply grating cheese or toasting bread, make it fun and inclusive for them. Mistakes will be made and that's okay! When just starting out, stick to easy to follow and 'fool-proof' recipes, to ensure that the experience is a positive one, instead of a frustrating one.

We suggest a few food jokes to lighten the mood:

  • What is a scarecrow's favourite fruit? Straw-berries!

  • Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up!

  • Why shouldn't you tell a secret on a farm? Because the potatoes have eyes and the corn has ears!

Make your kitchen family-friendly and ask for your best chefs to help!

Looking for a new apartment with a great kitchen? Check out our listings today!