Get cooking with your little ones

It’s healthy to teach your children to cook from an early age, writes Lori Cohen

COOKING FOR SMALL children can make meal prep a downer. Chicken nuggets again?

However, setting aside time to introduce your little one to the mysteries of the kitchen could be the end of your cooking woes – and a tasty tool that could also boost their development, your relationship and more.

TICKLE THOSE TASTE BUDS

Preschoolers are not known for their adventurous palates. And cajoling them into trying those hearty homemade fishcakes or corn fritters you so lovingly made can lead to a battle of wills over the high chair.

Tamsyn Woudberg, a chef at Little Cooks Club (littlecooksclub.co.za), says that getting your kids involved in meal prep can help take the fight out of introducing them to new tastes.

“Children are more likely to eat what you offer them if they have been part of preparing it. They get a sense of pride and achievement out of seeing the final product of what they have helped prepare,” she says.

We all love the idea of sharing the dinner table as a family. But negotiating with a small child who wants to watch Peppa Pig while they eat their macaroni and cheese can be stressful.

Research shows that kids are more likely to sit down to a family meal when they helped prepare it too. Investing

time in your mini master chef can pay off for the rest of the family too. Helping cook the family meal will also give your child a sense of achievement and pride that encourages independence and builds confidence over time.

THAT’S YUMMY!

Convenience is critical for many busy parents. However, serving store-bought meals and using pre-packaged or frozen vegetables robs our kids of essential opportunities to learn.

Lisa Somo, mom to four-year-old

Bella, recalls the moment her daughter was shocked to learn her favourite go-to meal of chips was made from potatoes. “Bella refused to try mash or baked potatoes because she said she didn’t like potatoes.

“We made hot chips from scratch together, and it was a turning point when she realised that she did actually like them. It opened her mind to tasting other ways the vegetable is prepared,” she recalls.

You can take this veg-ducation a step further by introducing your child to new ingredients at the supermarket.

Ask them to pick out veggies that they don’t recognise, such as courgettes or butternut. Set yourselves a challenge to turn them into something their tummies will love.

For example, butternut chips or courgette fritters.

There are going to be days when they turn their little noses up at the result, but this strategy helps build a positive relationship between your child and food. This will equip them to make positive food choices when they’re older.

“The earlier you start this process, the easier feeding your child will be. Children learn by mimicking you, so getting involved is a huge part of your child’s progress,” Tamsyn says.

“The earlier you start to introduce real food, the easier it is to shape their tastes. Switching your children over from eating processed food to real healthy food is never an easy task. Once your children get used to eating unhealthy processed food, they develop a taste for it that can be hard to break. This is a challenge that will not be accomplished overnight but is so important for helping your kids grow up happy and healthy.”

TACKLING TEXTURE

“Transitioning your child to solids or dealing with fussy or picky eaters is no easy task,” Tamsyn continues.

Trying to avoid ‘unhealthy’ foods and providing a balanced meal can be challenging. This is especially true if your child seems only to eat certain foods. Tamsyn says that food can be used as a positive form of therapy to deal with issues such as sensory integration problems.

“Each child is unique and will approach food and feeding differently. This is where you come in.

“You know your child best, and your input in creating comfort and calmness around the experience is vital,” she explains.

Encouraging your child to touch different textures such as dry beans, rice, and cold and wet vegetables, or textures they avoid, can be done in a fun, non-pressurised context when you’re just ‘playing around’ in the kitchen. Let them use their fingers to mix the cupcake mix or roll pizza dough with their hands.

“Keep it simple and make it fun. Save more serious conversations for another time. Encourage your child, stay positive and embrace the mess,” Tamsyn says.

You can use the time to build other things, such as their motor skills and vocabulary. Encourage your child to stack, count, name the colours of the ingredients and describe the smells you encounter.

FOLLOW MY LEADER

With so many distractions (we’re talking electronic gadgets!) and busy lives, our children increasingly find it hard to develop their concentration. They need these skills to thrive at school later. Working through a recipe from start to finish with your child is one way to help them practise their concentration skills and teaches them how to plan.

Different techniques can be used based on the age of your little helper. A toddler can help you tick off the recipe as you finish a step. An older child can measure ingredients and prep items.

Cooking with your kid shouldn’t be a chore. Consider it a treat. It gives you focused time together to chat, share and create something wonderful together.

It also gives you both a new way to express yourselves creatively.

If you think back to your childhood, some of your fondest memories will be time spent with an adult – Mom or Granny? – in the kitchen. This is partly because we build better memories when they are associated with good smells.

The final tip in creating a foodie out of your fussy child?

“Don’t pressure your child to eat, taste or try foods,” says Tamsyn. In fact, stop talking about food altogether.

“Let them explore foods on their terms and at their own pace. This means looking, touching, smelling, tasting and refusing. This may seem counter-intuitive, but research shows that healthy eating habits come when children have control over what they put in their mouth.”

DO TRY THIS AT HOME!

Exposing your children to healthy food habits can take some creative thinking, says Tamsyn. Here are some tips: Join a community-supported agriculture

farm, which allows you to get fresh organic vegetables that you can pick up every week. Bringing your children along to see the farm, pick up the vegetables, and letting them help cook with these different veggies is an excellent way for them to become interested in eating real food.

Making meals fun helps children think positively about eating real food.

Present food as edible art, as it helps your kids get excited about eating it. Getting your kids to develop a taste for real food requires some creativity.

Eat from the rainbow, so serve as many different colours as possible to your toddler. This not only makes the plate look more appealing, it also ensures that the child gets a wide variety of essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients at every meal. The key to mealtimes and introducing new food is positivity.

Children are more likely to enjoy real food in the context of a pleasant experience. Make mealtimes an opportunity for enjoying good conversations with your kids to distract them from unfamiliar foods and to bond as a family.

Join a communitysupported agriculture farm, which allows you to get fresh organic vegetables that you can pick up every week