Why You Should Teach Your Child to Cook

Yesterday I was at the gym and nearly had a heart attack on the elliptical machine. While you’d think that my Oreo obsession finally caught up with me, it was actually the Oprah show that shocked the endorphins right out of me. What could be so shocking that I’d nearly go into cardiac arrest in the middle of Gold’s gym? -

It was what young girls today know about sex.

I have a confession. I harbor a deep seeded fantasy that our girls will one day enter a convent and I’ll never have to worry about them having sex (or being pressured into it) ever again. Kali would look awesome in a habit! But seeing as how they aren’t Catholic and couldn’t say a “hail Mary” to save their lives, I felt like I had no choice but to face reality and watch the show.

Being a parent is hard work. During the first six weeks of my life as a full time mom, I cried every day. (I’m pretty sure the kids and Ken assumed it was just one long bout of PMS). While I loved the kids and my new husband, it was so hard balancing my full time job, commuting, running a house and trying adapt to unfamiliar territory. There were nights when I was folding laundry at ten p.m. and contemplating joining the Witness Protection program so I wouldn’t ever have to hear again – What’s for dinner? (Three of the most dreaded words in the English language.)

Just as I’m starting to feel like I’ve got a grip on the whole thing, I realized that I’m completely clueless. I listened with abject horror as a 12 year old girl described in detail her extensive knowledge about oral sex. She’s only 7 months older than Kenna and that little girl seem to know more about it than most married people do! Sadly, she wasn’t even the youngest girl on the show. I watched with great empathy as a mother tried to explain to her 10 yr old daughter (in painful detail) what all the fuss is about. The hard truth of it is that kids are learning about this subject at a very young age.

I could go on and on about what I heard but it might make you want to join the Witness Protection program too so instead I’ll offer up a solution. I've made peace with the fact that I’ll never be Joan Cleaver (I’m pretty sure she never yelled at her kids in Spanish). Still I can be a good parent even if my cookies are burnt and dinner is frequently late.

One easy way to connect with your child is by teaching them to cook. So when Kenna asks – Can I help? and I’m tired and I’m hurrying to throw dinner together, the answer is almost always yes. Cooking and baking together gives me an opportunity to show her that not only am I available to her but she’s important enough for me to include her in whatever I’m doing. It also gives us one on one time for me to ask questions like who are you hanging out with? What happened during your day? Is there anything you want to talk about?

If we keep the lines of communication open with our children then we have a much better chance of safeguarding them against peer pressure, drugs, alcohol and etc. Let’s face it – if we don’t educate our kids then their friends will.