What age do you think is best to teach your child how to cook?

As soon as they show an interest! Children get excited about so many things while they're still young, and it's best to encourage those interests while they're still eager to learn. Even a child of two or three can whip eggs in a bowl to make scrambled eggs or help mix cake batter with a spoon.

Naturally, you'll want to wait until they're a bit older to let them cook on the stovetop or use the oven, probably nine or ten. Letting very yound children help you cook is a messy affair, but being able to cook is an important life skill, and the earlier children can learn to do things for themselves, the less Mom and Dad will have to wait on them. As they get older, some simpler cooking chores can be turned over to them, like making the grilled cheese sandwiches or pancakes (my specialties while I was still in grade school).

I think children as young as 2 years can begin to do some level of helping with preparing meals and treats. As a previous preschool teacher of 2 year children I found it quite easy to allow them to help pour/ add pre-measured ingredients into the mixing bowl, grease the pans with shortening and stir the mixture. They were also able to decorate cookies and cupcakes once cooled.

There are different levels of involvement for varying ages. It's up to you the adult to keep them safe while performing duties in the kitchen. You can gradually allow more freedom/responsibility in the kitchen as they mature.

My grand-daughter wasn't more than 8 or 9 when she insisted on sitting on the counter or standing on a chair so that she could help her mother cook and bake. Of course, at such a young age, it is necessary to watch out for knives or lighting a stove top, or any other things that may be dangerous. However, there are so many things young children can do.

They can stir, add, and spread out ingredients. They can even help choose what recipe is going to be made so they will take a much bigger interest in eating different vegetables and fruit and learning about healthy foods.

I started very early with my grandchildren, around 3 or 4. I had five of the little ants. Each one wanted to do something.

Of course it was a non-baking kind of cooking. They added the egg, gave it three stirs, dump in the milk, some maybe did not all get in the bowl, the flour was even a bigger mess. But everyone got to add some of the secret ingredient we put into all of our recipes ''love.'' It was an imaginary thing, but loads of fun, we always said that was what made it taste so yummy.

We have so many fun memories the youngest is now 9 years and the oldest is 15. And they all can cook to some degree!

I agree with Jill Beth as well. Whenever they become interested. What you should do when they do become interested is teach them easy things, like baking cookies and such.It is a great time to also learn kitchen saftey.

Warn them about sharp knives, hot stove tops and ovens, and teach them to not let things close to counter top edges, because they may FALL. Ask them if they know WHY they are doing certain things. If they cannot come up with a reason, it is a great time to teach them WHY certain things have to happen and ingrain into them what cooking is.

I would not start teaching them any earlier than two and a half (My nephew is two and a half). My reason being is they hardly have complete control over their motor skills yet. Let them develop them first.

Messy is one thing, but you don't want any broken anything. I remember helping my mom with simple things, like rinsing rice when I was about three. Then mac and cheese cookies when I was older.

She was always willing to teach as well.

As soon as they can help you! I think eating is the same as keeping fit, it is a lifestyle choice. Our family does not eat any form of fast or processed food.

We are on a very strict diet and we are required to adhere to it. So I am sure you can imagine the amount of time I spend in a day preparing food in one manner another. And luckily my husband helps a lot too so we are all in the kitchen.

I have two children and both of my boys wanted to cook like Daddy so when my oldest was three we got a toddler kitchen set. They have been playing with it ever since. Just today my youngest (3.5 years old) handed me some lovely boiled peas in a pot sitting on a lid like a plate.My point is if they are pretend playing it at this age, why not offer them the real thing.

If there is a chore needing done that requires hands, they get to do it. They rip lettuce, the pat it dry, they try to crack eggs, they use the measuring cups to measure my dry ingredients. We have recently graduated to them using butter knives to cut.

They also come to ask permission to have snacks and get it themselves. I want to continue to help grow my children's thirst for knowledge and I hope they continue to express interest in the kitchen and in the food that they put into their belly.

My experience: It's like teaching a child any skill. Talk through it as you do it, almost as if you're doing a cooking show. (if you can get them to let you do it yourself).

Then, offer to start them out by doing it only part of the way, then let the child help finish. They'll be thrilled with a good final product and everyone saying "Oh, Susie, YOU made this? It's DELICIOUS!" doesn't hurt the child's self-esteem and is positive reinforcement to actually make them want to cook more.

My son was helping make brownies from scratch at about 2 (he stirred a bit) and he's helped make mom make dad's birthday cake every year (5 so far, except maybe the first one--he was 6 months old). He's a summer birthday, so his age doesn't change during the school year.. When he was 3, the school he went to had cooking every Friday--they cooked simple things like cupcakes to celebrate birthdays. Watch out for the hot stuff--hell hath no fury like a child scorned because they over-anxiously touched a muffin tin or cookie sheet out of the oven.

And watch it with the knives. I'm almost 40 and I remember clear as if it was yesterday when I sliced my finger when cutting cookies from a tube of slice & bake cookie dough with my uncle, who was visiting from halfway across the country. I was 10 when he passed away, and he'd stopped traveling well before then.

I had to be 6 or 7, maybe even 5.

Before I allowed my son to cook, he first learned how to "prep" food. Measure ingredients, learn how to crack an egg and even learn how to handle a knife. I knew he then had an interest in cooking because he wanted to learn more.

Before you teach a child to cook I think that child should learn food preparation because that takes the most time: cutting, measuring, gathering all of the ingredients, choosing the right pots and pans, etc. He was hooked most definitely when he discovered the fun of a "whisk.

At around age 3, they re the little helpers! It starts there... teach the child to "PREP". Usually it's "baking".

They can add all the ingredients and put it in a pan. At age 6-7, they can make their own appetizers from pre-cut, pre-shreded, pre-sliced ingredients. As the child "matures" , with adult supervision, they can make waffles, pancakes and eggs on a non-stick griddle!

For as long as you are at arms reach or close by and not allow them to use knives (until they are 9 or 10), a child at age 7 can be the master chef in your home! :).

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