04/06/2025
🎉9 year old's first solo dinner. 🎉
8 years ago she had a toddler knife and cut mushrooms.
My kids have always been and are always in the kitchen with me. I let them all chop with real knives (soft things - mushrooms, fruit, etc) as toddlers. By 5 they can all typically cut something into slices reliably, make a smoothie, get out ingredients by name, mix up cookie dough, empty the dishwasher, grocery shop, help me meal plan, stuff like that.
It has NOT been overnight. But if you're in a season with littles, it takes FOREVER (and some days you don't have the patience and that's ok), but it's so worth it to involve kids in the little and big things as you do them. Kids LIKE real jobs like scrubbing produce and cutting apple slices.
🥗🍽️🔪🥔🍴
My oldest got a new cookbook this weekend, made a list with me for what she needed for two meals and one dessert, then we all shopped together. She made this ALL. I only took the raw meat out of the package and peeled garlic while she picked basil to make the pesto butter.
It definitely took longer than me just doing it, but we're building the skills together in the kitchen (we pretended I was supervising as a sous chef), so that she can one day just start to finish do the thing without me there.
Anyway, food was bomb. If you're not making pesto butter for your steaks, here's your sign to do that.
