do YOU teach the grandkids to cook?

peachyprice

Both the Nannies cook with my DD, and my sons when they were younger. MIL tends to cook meal with her, my mum does mostly baking and she does both with me. My boys cook for themselves now.

McKneff

oooh, don't, there is nothing I would like better, but here I am in North Yorkshire and my two lovely grandaughters aged nearly 3 and nearly 5 live in Oxfordshire. I miss them so much and only see them 2 or 3 times a year.

I'd just love to be making fairy cakes with them, they are coming soon in February and I'm so looking forward to it.

I am so envious of you all..

stsarina

My daughter is only just turned 3, but she knows where the recipe books are in the kitchen and she often sits down with me to choose something to 'cook' together. She loves making a cake (especially cracking the eggs!) and we have a little herb box growing on the windowsill that she helps me look after - and every ingredient we use, she asks me where it comes from and how it grows.

My mum never bothered teaching me to cook so I had to teach myself once I left home at 18. I'm proud to say now that all DD's food is home cooked and the only food she ever refuses is mushrooms - and I'm sure that involving her in the process is a major part of that.

Hannah.

lollipopsarah

Lovely stories, thankyou all.
Sadly I was never interested, so i'll never be able to make my Dad's special birthday cake, or Mum's cook in the fridge biscuit cake and lots of other yummy stuff.
xx

McKneff

lollipopsarah wrote: »

Lovely stories, thankyou all.
Sadly I was never interested, so i'll never be able to make my Dad's special birthday cake, or Mum's cook in the fridge biscuit cake and lots of other yummy stuff.
xx

There is absolutely nothing to stop you having a go, I allways say
'if you can read, you can cook'

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I taught all three of my daughters to cook and my five grandchildren too.
My eldest grandaughter is 21 now and puts me to shame sometimes with her cooking skills.
I started her off when she was around two years old,she'd stand on a stool rolling out pastry with her little rolling pin,she used to love cutting out the shapes and sticking cherries on biscuits etc.
It makes me realy proud to see how well she does in the kitchen now.
Cooking was as much a part of play with us as any other activity realy.
We used to garden too and from being toddlers they all had a little patch to grow veg and strawberries.
It was always a cause for celebration when they could harvest their own little carrots or strawberries for tea.
Oh happy days .

meritaten

I think one of my fondest memories is going to be my little GS having made a batch of fairy cakes (his favourite) putting on the icing (licking the palette knife between each cake lol) - then I couldnt find my sprinkles so halved some glace cherries for him to put on them. he surveyed them - turned to me with this huge grin on his face and said 'nanny - they look like a party!' Priceless!

p00

Ive always cooked fairy cakes and biscuits with my children and grandchildren since they were little.

We now knit, sew and make yoyo flowers, do cross-stitch, forage for fruit and all sorts of things as well as baking.

Its lovely to spend quality time with children of all ages.

I think it a pity that sometimes 'grownups' just dont realise what a lovely time you have with kids instead of plonking them infront of a tv or computer.

xxp00

building_with_lego

I rarely cook with my two (8 and 4) through habit, I think I really must rectify that!

Since September I've been teaching cooking to small groups of Year 1 (aged 5 and 6) children at my son's school. We take 8 or 9 of them for a four week 'course', teach them about hygiene in the kitchen and make things like popcorn, scones, dips and little tarts. Bearing in mind all the doom-laden horror stories about the state of the nation's diet it's remarkably gratifying to be reprimanded for "only having green pesto- I much prefer red" and "this isn't how we do it at home" by such small people!
The children learn skills such as snipping chives, slicing peppers and cucumber with proper, sharp knives, rubbing butter into flour and kneading scone dough, grating and stirring. They also get 'rewarded' with a sticker for learning a new skill.
Every week there's at least one child who "doesn't like" what we've made but we all sit down to eat together and usually they change their mind once they've actually tasted it. Wonderful- there is hope for the world yet.

RosyRed

At 4 mths my DGD is a bit young yet,but I'm looking forward to it.I do cook with my brothers DD she is 8,and loves nothing more when she comes to our house than to whip up a batch of fairy cakes.We started when she was about 4 and she has really come on with her skills,weighing & measuring,dividing up the spoils when she's finished.We dont just do cakes-she'll make her lunch too,and likes picking salad from the garden,washing it then eating it.My brother does most of the cooking at home but won't with DD-says its too messy! I love cooking and teaching her.