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Cooking With Kids
Yummy Recipes!!
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Mommy's Had A Baby, Now What??
Help your child be a part of bringing home their new sibling. Simple actions on your part can make all the difference.
Being pregnant with a preschooler can be very demanding. You are already tired and with the addition of chasing a small child, you can feel
completely exhausted. Sometimes, you might dread bringing home your new baby for fear of jealousy from your preschooler . Maybe not, because many preschoolers are just as excited, if not more so, than their parents concerning the new baby Without proper preparation, this excitement can turn into jealousy when baby actually makes his appearance. Simple positive actions on your part will help lessen this or maybe even head it off totally.
When you talk about the new baby, if your child is at anyway possibly in
earshot, mention him as the 'big brother (or sister). Include such comments as how wonderful you think he will be as a big brother. How much he has grown and how proud you are of him. This includes him, lessening the possibility of him feeling left out.
Allow your child to help with picking out items for the baby. Let him know
his choices are important, then be sure to tell the cashier that he picked
those items for the new baby. Little things like this will make him feel
important in helping prepare for the new baby.
If your preschooler has a favorite story, let him tell it to your belly.
Let her sing songs to the baby in your tummy, too. Don't worry if he is a little loud at times, your new baby is surrounded by lots of sound muffling fluid.
When you come home from the hospital, let your partner carry baby into the home. Hug your child as soon as you come in. He will have missed you quite a bit and by hugging him first, you let him know he is missed just as much.
If your preschooler wants to hold the baby, let him. Sit next to him and
help him hold the new baby, gently showing him how to do it properly. Take a picture and let him have a copy to carry with him.
Let your child help with the care of the new baby. Do not constantly tell
him 'No' when he tries to help you by bringing things he thinks the baby may need. Doing so will alienate him from the new baby. Accept what he brings and give a positive 'Thank you'. He will feel important in his new baby brother or sister's life.
Try to keep in mind that this newborn period will not last forever. Before
you know it, your new baby will be a toddler and your children will be
playing happily together.
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ENCOURAGE THEM EVERY CHANCE YOU GET!
It may start when they are babies as you praise them for each task they learn to do; crawling, walking, standing, sharing, etc. These are big milestones that your child must accomplish to move on to the next. As kids get older parents tend to slow down on the praise and rewards, not meaning to. But there are everyday accomplishments that babies, toddlers and preschoolers need to hear in order to feel satisfied and able to move on to the next accomplishment. Encouragement does not need to be bought. Encouragement can be done in several ways and can give your child everything he or she will need to move on to the next level. Here are some creative ideas on ways that you can encourage your child.
Children love to see their progress so keep a journal of accomplishments for your child. Start when they are babies so you can show your child how well they progress. Also, most of the time when your kids get older they will ask you when they took their first steps or how old were they when they said their first words. The journal can help you recall exactly when. To make your journal, buy a simple notebook or if you love scrap booking you can make one using scrap booking decorations; anything to make it personal. Start filling up the pages with accomplishments or every time you praised your child for something. Let your child doodle a page or later write in their own words about how they
felt when they accomplished the task.
Finally, finish it off with the reward you gave your child for their accomplishment. For example, did you cook their favorite meal? Keeping track of all their accomplishments can be something that they will enjoy looking back on when they are older.
At the end of everyday, sit down and talk about their day. You can do that after you tuck them in or before bedtime. Sitting down and discussing their accomplishments for that day will ensure that they go to sleep with a positive attitude and outlook on what they have done.
Offer a Reward. When your child accomplishes something have a reward box that allows them to draw out a reward from the box that they can use. To make your reward box, find a child size shoe box or a container with a lid. Inside, fold up several pieces of paper that have rewards wrote on it. For example, they can help with dinner or they can pick a game for the whole family to participate in.
Remember to keep the rewards simple. A hug and praise is a priceless reward that you have an over abundant supply of. Your child will learn that it is the simplest things in life that can be the most rewarding.
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Fun With Food!
Fun Food For The Whole Family.
Let your child join in and help make snacks and entire meals geared towards fun consumption.
One of the best ways to bring a family together is routed through the kitchen. This is the one room in the house that nearly everyone
congregates in at one time or another. Eating together has already been proven to strengthen a family bond, but what about cooking
together?
The short answer is, 'it sure does'! Hanging out with your children and partner in the kitchen, making snacks or dinner is fun and wholesome. Learning a new recipe, experimenting with old ones, and then eating your creations, what child wouldn't have a blast?
Younger children tend to enjoy activities where they can get their
hands into their work. Kneading bread dough, stirring brownie batter, cutting out cookies, or dumping ingredients into a bowl are all perfect for little hands. If you child is very small, pre-measure out dry ingredients for her to pour into the bowl. Short wooden spoons are perfect for a small child to stir with. Use a larger than normal bowl to compensate for her lack of fine motor skills, it will reduce
spillage. If you have non-slip material used for shelving, cut a bit off the roll and place it under the bowl to keep it from sliding while she stirs. This will also prevent the bowl from sliding off of the table or counter.
If your child is helping you make a recipe that requires eggs be
stirred in, do not add the eggs until after your child is done with
her part of the work. Eggs can carry salmonella and children like to put their hands into batters, tasting them. This can cause severe illness, so again, please avoid raw eggs in the batter until it is 'your turn' to work.
If your child wants to help with dinner, let them. She is much more likely to try new and nutritious foods if she has helped prepare them.
You can purchase small spreaders for her to use to butter bread, toast, or for spreading other things. Invest in plastic plates and bowls for your child to use in setting the table and helping to serve foods.
Think outside of the box. You don't have to cook the same thing every day. Why not mix things up and make some holiday favorites to spice up
a run of the mill day? Kids love gross things, so break out some
Halloween recipes in January. Have a kitchen Christmas party in July!
It doesn't matter what you cook, as long as you are cooking together.
Cooking With Preschoolers
There are several things that your preschooler can accomplish but one of the best things to do is to cook with your preschooler. There are several ways that you can allow your preschooler to cook safely and it will be fun and interesting to them. Preschoolers who cook will feel more confident and may also become more positive and creative. The more they do the more they can accomplish. When you teach your child to cook you can help them feel good about what they can do and when mistakes happen, it’s okay. They can learn that even adults make mistakes and you can always start over.
Cooking with your preschooler can also teach other things that they need to learn. For example, measuring can play an important role in following a recipe to make a dish. Recipes are a great way to organize ingredients and how following directions are important as well. Timing is everything, even in cooking. Let your preschooler time the dish by using a timer with an alarm so they will know when something is done.
The first thing you will want to teach your preschooler is safety. There are several different ways to teach safety to your preschooler to help them understand. The first thing they need to know is to always let the adults prepare hot dishes.
Your preschooler is watching you so make sure that you practice safety. Turn the handles on all the pots inward so that you don’t bump them off. Always chop with your fingers tucked under so you won’t cut your finger. (using a butter knife works great for kids) Make sure that you use pot holders when removing something from the oven or stove. These safety tips are great to help your child learn that cooking also has rules that you must follow in order to prepare a meal safely. When your cooking lesson is over make sure you tell your preschooler that it is very important that they always ask an adult before they start cooking. You don’t want your preschooler to think that it is okay for them to start cooking without guidance.
Start off with a simple recipe that you know your preschooler likes. Allow them to help prepare that dish for dinner so that they can feel good about helping you. Also, make a special drawer in the refrigerator or in the cabinet that will have something that your preschooler can fix themselves. For example, put sliced meat in a baggie and bread in a drawer so your toddler can prepare their own sandwich for lunch. Giving them a little independence will also help them learn that they can also prepare for themselves. In the end, you will have a preschooler who will have high self esteem and the ability to learn a new art under supervision.
Bon Appetit!
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How to get your Preschooler Interested in Reading
When your preschooler is ready to read, they may sit down with a book and pretend to read by the pictures. It is time to sit down with your toddler to teach them to read.
Reading is easy to teach to preschoolers because they are ready and eager to learn and enjoy all the time that you can spend with them. They are quick to learn everything. For parents or guardians it will only take about an hour a day to teach your preschooler to read. That is because you don’t only want to teach your preschooler to read but you also want to teach your preschooler how to understand what they read.
In order to ensure success at reading you need to make learning fun or your preschooler will lose interest. Preschoolers learn more when you make it fun. Making it fun will also help your preschooler to become creative and inventive. If your preschooler is playing or coloring while you are reading a book they are still paying attention to you and learn more than what you think. Every book that you read can be turned into a song, a play, a drawing, craft and more. For example, take ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. You and your preschooler can make up words using the tune to ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’. You can use a red table cloth as a cape while you read the story. After the story is over you can have your child draw a picture of Little Red Riding hood, the big bad wolf, the woods, or grandma’s house. This will make reading fun and more interesting to your preschooler.
Start your reading time by dressing up as a character and allowing your child to dress up as well. Use a mask, hat, a jacket, a table cloth or anything else to help tell the story. Be sure to point to your child every time you are talking about their character that they have dressed up as. Let your child make a noise or say a few words that the character might say. This will also help your preschooler remember the story and understand it. Before you know it story time will become a happy time full of smiles, laughs and playtime.
Reading for preschoolers can be a positive experience when you use several ways to tell a story. Combining activities all together will ensure that your child is listening, remembering, imagining, creating and more. As you read the book make sure that you point to each word so your child has an idea of what a word looks and sounds like. Read the same book for one week at a time. This will help your child remember the story and understand it. Next week before starting your new book, you can review what last weeks book was about. You will be amazed at how well your child paid attention.
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