Do you teach your children to cook? Or you a ready meal family? Just wondering....?

Question

Is it now rare for children to know how to prepare meals from scratch or do you teach them how?
Same applies to sitting down to eat at a table.

How cheering the answers so far are. I was beginning to think it was a dying art.
My girls learn with me too, and we always sit at the table together.

Answer 1

I am teaching my daughter to cook pretty much the same way my parents taught me. We cook together. Right now she is only old enough to stir and get ingredients for me and I will let her put them in. She can make scrambled eggs and toast but only with supervision. When she is ready and can actually reach the stove with a pot on it, I will teach her the recipes I grew up with. Who knows she may make up a few of her own like I have.

As far as table dinning, we eat at the table on the weekends and on weekdays when we can. We rarely eat in front of the TV. With work, homework, housework, bedtime and family time. somethings have to slide once in a while. Sometimes you have to choose between folding laundry and cuddle/ reading time. Boy do I have a lot of laundry to catch up on. :o)

Answer 2

We are nowhere near a ready meal family. I have a thing about prepackaged foods. We eat very little of it. Even our snacks are homemade or we get them from a whole foods store. I feel most prepackaged foods are poison so all our dinners are made from scratch. And that doesn't mean they take a long time to do or are difficult. It amazes me how many people think that if you cook from scratch you spend hours in the kitchen.

I also home school and my kids do a cooking project with me every week. We try to do something that relates to whatever their history lesson is for the week. But besided their weekly cooking project they help out if I make cookies or muffins or whatever. They like to help and I enjoy their company in the kitchen. :)

Answer 3

My daughter has just turned 4 and has been 'helping' me in the kitchen since she was walking at 9 months. Just the basics to start, fetching an onion, or a potato, getting cheese out of the fridge etc.

Now she is mixing, pouring and knows all the vegetables and fruit we eat, knows which ones have to have skin removed, which ones have pips or stones etc.

I include her in cooking and food shopping and explain where everything comes from.

I did this before Jamie Oliver started on about it, though I commend his work with schools, shouldnt parents be doing this anyway?? Its a basic life skill, to be able to cook.

My mum taught me how to cook from an early age, my dad cooked, my brother is a very creative cook, i dont understand why some parents dont do it.

Answer 4

My daughter is going to be 7 next month. I have just started teaching her how to cook. She can make pancakes from scratch now. Of course I am always right beside her while she is using the stove. She knows to NEVER use it alone. We ALWAYS eat dinner as a family, around the kitchen table. Breakfast the kdis eat at the table together and then they have lunch at school. On the weekends we eat both lunch and dinner together around the table.

Answer 5

My friend taught all of her children to cook. Her son was cooking eggs with supervision when he was four. The youngest who is 11 has one several prizes in the County fair. I think it would be great to teach your children how to prepare meals now. We absolutely sit at the table to eat all meals together as a family.

Answer 6

my children love to cook.they are 4 and 11.they always want to help in the kitchen and my 11 year old has just started cooking at school so now she wants to help even more.as for ready meals they wont eat them cos they say they taste horrible.we always eat our meals together at the table because it was the way i was brought up and i still feel the same,nothing worse than a plate sliding about on your knee.

Answer 7

Always cook!!!!! Occassionaly I will buy a fresh pasta sauce if I have no time.... and always at the table, never in front of the TV.

I think its also important to teach your children how to eat and behave in a restaurant too. I can't stand the parents that just let their children run around and disturb other diners.

Answer 8

our daughters are 2 and 11 months so not too up on the cooking with them although i bake with my eldest and get her to help where she can i think its good that children learn to cook girls or boys and when they are older they will help me cook up the family favourites also we sit around the table all the time we feel this is the best for our girls a real family time!!!

Answer 9

My father was always so strict on table manners, which I am now passing on to my daughters.

I usually prepare the meals through the week, always home cooked never ready meals. We have take away on Fridays nights.

On weekends they love to make cookies and cakes, I just let them do it all themselves, they have so much fun, and my eldest has said since she was 3 ( shes 10 now ) that she wants to be a chef when she grows up ....

Heres hoping!!!!!!.....LOL

Answer 10

I cook & sometimes my 4 year old daughter hinders, I mean helps. We have a convenience meal about once a week & we always eat at the table