Kids in the kitchen

rattiefan, Jul 30, 5:14pm
i am planning on getting my son (10) back into the kitchen cooking and was wondering how many other peoples kids out there love to cook...

gaspodetwd, Jul 30, 8:07pm
Yes. Both kids cook. My four year old bakes and my seven year old makes pies and stir fries and simple family meals unaided. I would say a ten year would need minimal supervision - as long as they are sensible.

wkemp1, Jul 30, 10:38pm
yes both mine do my son (10) and girl (7) they fight over who is doing the cooking, so they have a night each in which they choose what we will be having the normal is a stir fry or a roast. our girl is doing a roast chicken for dinner now

lythande1, Jul 30, 11:18pm
Taught my son when he was Form 1. I said he could cook whatever he liked for dinner so long as A)no cheat meals B)it was a different recipe every time. He did it once a week for a year, moaned the whole time, at the end he found he quite liked it, insisted on some things being done by him, not me, cause he said he did them better and now cooks all the time.

rattiefan, Jul 31, 12:02am
my boy has a few issues so he has to be supervised in the kitchen but he enjoys cooking..

he did his first roast (chicken) at 7 and he can make an awesome pasta casserole thing.. he also makes a decent salad and a not bad stir fry and makes mac and cheese without help..

chooky, Jul 31, 7:21am
Can we swap kids. Please. I have a 14 year old who has only decided this year and mainly cause it in her list of job for pocket money to have a go at cooking. She has to do one meal in the weekend and does it very well. Son 18, not interested in it at all, been working 2 years, says he pays board so doesnt have too.

elliehen, Jul 31, 7:34am
chooky, tell your son that girls absolutely LOVE young men who can cook :)

neele1, Jul 31, 3:00pm
Elliehen my hubby cant really cook and its hard as i have to cook all the time and would love a brake some times. o he can cook put a pizza in the oven or a pie in the microwave lol that's about it lol. He can make nice scones but on the backing side that's about it

poolgirl6, Jul 31, 3:16pm
Many leave home without the skills to feed themselves in a healthy manner and live on pizza and noodles lol.

poolgirl6, Jul 31, 3:23pm
Tauranga mothers, I would be happy to teach your kids/teenagers how to cook meals from fresh, in my own home after school, and perhaps provide a meal for the family to take home if that would be helpful to working families?
I have a certificate in Food Safety. Any thoughts/comments?

rattiefan, Jul 31, 6:40pm
thats a nice offer of you poolgirl

my boy doesnt know it yet as he is still away on holiday with his dad (due home tomorrow yay) that he is cooking me dinner on wednesday night lol.. will tell him tonight when i talk to him..

not only does my son cook but he vacuums the floor, dries the dishes and knows how to use the washing machine lol...he is going to make a great husband one day for some lucky girl

norse_westie, Jul 31, 7:17pm
Mine start helping with cooking from about age 3. Every child has turns at helping prepare the dinner, and has input into what/how we are eating. By 10 they can cook a basic meal - meat and vegetables, as well as make white/cheese sauce perfectly, eggs anyway, etc. At 13 they are expected to cook once a fortnight, including planning, preparing, and serving.

My eldest boy is a messy cooker but creates amazingly good food, very creative, but he has left home now so I dont benefit from it. My second boy (also left home) is such a good basic cook that he does it all for his flat. He also bakes and makes sauces, preserves, lemon honey etc. His shortbread are (arguably) even better than mine, and mine are pretty damn good.

My 15 year old has developed a keen sense of good food and is loving all the cooking programs on tv at the moment. He is very motivated in the kitchen and his baking rivals mine now.

rattiefan, Jul 31, 7:30pm
im working on the baking side of things with him but i figure we focus on getting his cooking skills up to the stage where he is able to cook a meal by himself then ill work on baking with him

beaker59, Jul 31, 7:33pm
Some love to some don't but everyone needs to have some skills if only so they don't do themselves harm when they leave home. Of my kids all can cook to varying levels male or female makes little difference it seems certainly they have the role model in that as man of the house I do all of the cooking so there are no steriotypes. Currently 12 yr old son is starting he has shown no interest up to now but suddenly has decided he wants to learn so he will get all the help he needs.

poolgirl6, Aug 1, 12:41am
Perhaps a cooking school for a group after school may work?
Not sure I would want all those dishes afterwards tho.

whitehead., Aug 1, 4:48am
has your son thought about how hes going to eat when he leaves home .

bunny51, Aug 1, 5:10am
My oldest used to like cooking occasionally but no recently. My others all like coooking and baking

kinna54, Aug 1, 5:47am
Both my sons can cook, and eldest makes the best eggs benedict with homemade hollandaise sauce that I have ever tasted! He produces restaurant quality food most nights! Youngest makes awesome stir fry's and Thai curries, and is a dab hand at scones and pikelets for weekend lunches and is an awesome bread maker. I have 2 very lucky DIL's! granddies are also learning, eldest aged 3 helps with cookies and muffins, and can now get her own cornflakes and banana for breakfast. Great to encourage them to have healthy food, she is the only littley I know that actually asks for celery and carrots to snack on!

chooky, Aug 1, 6:59am
Whitehead. I dont think my son plans on leaving home.!!!!

r1esgfupsyr, Jul 14, 3:50am
There definitely are oommcn trends in elections across Europe, and the Guardian's visualisation could have made it appear more clearly if they hadn't made so many mistakes (e.g. France, where cohabitation' governments are not taken into account, or Poland, which was somehow not red immediatly between 1989 and 1993). But beyond elections, how can we negate the role of globalisation, ageing demograpgics, environmental questions, emerging countries, new media, the crisis of the welfare state, immigration, and growing ethnicist-paranoid movements on European politics? All these factors shape European party systems in the same way, and they are not going to stop overnight. Saying that it won't happen in our lifetime is a bit like seeing the glass one-quarter empty when it's three-quarter full, I think. It's already happening, and the role European political parties have taken in only 40 years is in itself a revolution. PES and EPP are most certainly going to have their candidates for commission president in 2014. If that's not already europeanisation, I don't want to know how far europeanisation should go for us to see it

7mxhks001, Jul 15, 2:32pm
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