looking to work from home, and have good cooking and teaching skills. Wondered if this would be attractive to busy mums for their teens to learn cooking skills/food appreciation/healthy eating etc. At my home, and would include recipes, and ingredients etc. Any thoughts please
glendeb,
May 24, 9:46am
I personally would hope to teach that to my own kids when they become teenagers, but I wonder about at risk youth or those whose parents either don't know how to cook or would never show them the basics.
Could you get in contact with CYPS or the Maori Board in your area?
poolgirl6,
May 24, 9:50am
Yes, good thought, its just that I appreciate some Mums are just too busy these days and its sad that kids/teens leave home without the knowledge and joy of good home baked food, ie prepared yourself the old fashioned way. Too many youngies rely on prepackaged foodsand takeaways and dont have the necessary skills to feed themselves for a healthy life.
cookessentials,
May 24, 9:52am
good idea, our philosophy is to have parents teaching their children to cook from a much earlier age though... it makes things so much easier and children who help prepare food and learn about it are far less fussy eaters too.
poolgirl6,
May 24, 9:59am
Agree with your thoughts, in a real world this does happen, would I have problems with the Hygiene regulations using my kitchen at home to do this type of work? Do schools still teach cooking at a young age?
cookessentials,
May 24, 10:11am
I dont know whether they do. Most kids learn at intermediate age which is fine, but still a bit late. Get them involved early - helping choose the fruit and vege at the market or supermarket, putting it into the bags etc. Have them watch you prepare meals and help with stirring and mixing. My son started at about 3YO and progressed from there. He is 24 now and is a mighty fine cook
fisher,
May 24, 10:37am
youngies... . lol. . heaps of oldies still feed themselves takeaways and prepackaged foods quoting "too busy" to cook. . how did they do it in the olde days. . ? ? ? and then there's the staid meat and 3 with no herbs or condiments... never knew any different from their parents... You would really need a registered kitchen. . hall, club, wherever to save yourself a lot of hassles. . They would prob make you do a food hygiene course as well...
juliewn,
May 24, 1:21pm
quote=glendeb]
Could you get in contact with CYPS or the Maori Board in your area? [/quote]
Hi. . A family being under CYFS involvement or being Maori does not in any way mean that a generalisation is correct about whether cooking is taught or not. A far bigger number of kids live without CYFS support, or are not Maori, and surely the aim is to help all young people learn to cook...
It would be great if all children learnt cooking and home-care (for both inside and outside a home) skills, etc. . Intermediate age classes do include cooking classes, along with woodwork, sewing and electronics, though there are just a few lessons of each for Year 7 and 8 students.
Good on you PoolGirl for what you're wanting to do. . the world needs people like you. . very best wishes. .
toadfish,
May 24, 5:56pm
My situation wouldn't have required your help as I was looked after my own children after school and cooking dinner was just part of that time we shared together. Now I am working & they are teenagers we all do our bit... Sometimes they do it all, sometimes they get it started or peel vegies etc, sometimes I do it all.
Have you thought maybe combining your idea... Afterschool care demand is increasing with more working (busy) mums. Have you thought of maybe taking on some permanent children and looking after them after school (ie up to 5), then you could charge them more and your point of difference is they pick their child up plus dinner once a week. How cool would that be... picking little Johnny up at 6pm complete with a Lasagne & salad he has made. They would need to bring the dishes to take it home in... . Don't think you need to be registered to do that as plenty of people look after children in their own home under an informal agreement.
As I said not for me... but i acknowledge that I am not the "majority"
Good Luck
fruitluva2,
May 24, 8:53pm
Good idea, one of my son's cannot believe he taught his flatmate how to do mashed potatoes. So he delights in cooking their roast and corned beef meals with the works.
purplegoanna,
May 24, 9:27pm
you may get stuck and have to do it in a commercial kitchen or one approved for food safety sadly... (OTT in the PC brigade i know but its law now i hear) mum taught us both to cook really well and hubbys mum was the same but the amount of chicks ive met that cant cook simple bacon & eggs is astonishing. .
korbo,
May 25, 8:22am
a great idea, I have always wondered why cooking is not a compulsory subject in say 5th/6th form. where both sexes learn the basics of running a kitchen and a budget. Shouldnt be hard to organise. Intermediate cooking is ok, but at that age, mum is usually available to help, whereas, for 6th formers, they could soon be out in the world alone... get what i mean... . . thoughts... .
poolgirl6,
May 25, 8:56am
Thanks for all your positive comments, I do like the idea of after school care combined with cooking skills etc. And budgeting/shopping skills incorporated together with some healthy HeHa, healthy attitude, healthy eating, ... thrown in for growing kids/teens. So do I advertise on TM jobs, or... . how do I find these hungry teens and busy mums I wonder?
maandpa2b,
May 25, 10:04am
Your local church may run a group for "at risk" kids or an afterschool programme... . see if they need any help or have any ideas.
fisher,
May 25, 1:31pm
poolgirl6. . as purplegoanna said with regards to food safety... have you done a hygiene course. . ? ? wherever you do it, you will have to have this cert ... if you dont, it's like driving a car with no licence and is very much frowned upon and for your sake and the folks you are teaching, would be very handy to have. . :} They will prosecute, ignorance being no excuse. . there must be one certified person "on the premises" while food is being prepared... Just trying to help you avoid the pitfalls...
lythande1,
May 26, 3:20am
I think it's a good idea, but how about as a part of childcare in school holidays, after school sort of thing. Instead of other activities. But it should be before they're teens. Intermediate age. And teach them for real, not just scones and juice sort of thing. Real meals.
valentino,
May 26, 5:02am
Gosh, this brings back memories of when one attended Intermediate School back in the late 50's early 60's and the school would set aside about an hour or two per week where each pupil would go to a hobby class like cooking, chess, building models, etc etc, , , ,
A few years ago entertained the thought of starting a teen or youth cosmopolitan style set-up at the then emptied Police buildings in Avondale mainly with the idea of getting young ones involved in doing all the real basic things plus outdoor things... ... The building was very quickly snapped up as a boarding place. Hmmmmm.
Any ideas involving young ones in doing good basic things is worth persuing.
Another area besides CYfs etc and strongly recommended is going back to and check with the local school, Hmmm preferably after normal schooling.
All the best.
Cheers.
tommi2,
May 26, 9:46pm
My master 14 is an awesome cook. He has just won a burger making competition at his school. It is run by NZ beef and lamb industry. He now goes into Wellington for the regional finals and if he wins there, then he is off to Auckland for the nationals. He created his burger himself and called it the Ali-a-Baba burger. I am so proud of him, he cooks anything and quite often cooks dinner for us all, i have taught him how to cook and when he leaves school he would like to become a chef
calista,
Jun 1, 5:59am
Hey tommi- Good on him. Do you hire him out?
dreaming4eva,
Jun 30, 8:43am
Good idea #1. You are so right there, thereare many young and older ones who have no idea about the basics let alone cook. Have a 16 yr old step daughter who wasn't taught to cook, and lives too far away from me to teach her. Where as my son is13 and cancook. . But then he was taught at an early age watching me and helping out where he could. He's now doing Food techat High school and loving it :). So much you have to do if you want to do this in your own home, no doubt you will need a Food & health Cert. and also your house might have to be approved for safety reasonhaving kids there. best of luck to you.
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