Cooking is only common sense after you have done it several times. For a good number of parents who have been cooking for years a lot of things are common sense, and like a good number of accomplishments you have mastered we have a tendency to do things on autopilot without thought. So when teaching your teenagers a number of easy fun recipes it now and then is amazing just how much they don’t know!
This was best shown to me when my son Benjamin, aged 16 at the time, used a recipe to create corn soup. I received a call on my cell from him, he was not pleased and in annoyance reported, “The silly recipe does not work, they asked for three cups of stock. I’ve used all we had, which was no more than one and a half cups. And they have forgotten the water”. As it transpired he had used stock powder, two bottles of it - which should have been enough to prepare approximately 30 cups of liquid stock, and added an adequate amount of water to make it appear like soup. The outcome was a repulsively salty brew that was completely unfit for human consumption. Worse still, I had an fuming child saying he ‘over cooking’. Because the directions were too scant all the pleasure of cooking, his plans of doing something good for the family and his sense of mastery had gone.
For most young adults cooking isn’t second nature; therefore unless someone shows or tells them they won’t necessarily recognize what to do. Most of them do not like adults hovering around while they are fixing a meal so we require strategies that are self contained or teenage led. This is rather a balancing act as at the same time as you would like to pre-answer questions that are looming in a teenagers head, you don’t want to be condescending
I judge the best approach to get around this is to introduce humor. And that is where nearly all nutrition and food skills education techniques break down. There are very few fun recipes for kids about. Humor and cooking or nutrition seems mutually exclusive. Imagine of the uncomplicated task of boiling a potato, in my teenage focus groups these are the nature of questions that have been raised. Do you have to peel them? how big do you cut them? how much water to add to the pot? does it matter if it is hot or cold water? what heat should I use?, how many minutes do you cook them for? Lid off? how do know when they are done?
All these are exceedingly uncomplicated questions. After they have experienced it a couple of times they will never have to inquire another time. But somewhere, somehow, someone has to show them - and if it can be done with a grin or a joke then engagement of the learning is much more probable.
Other things, like slicing an onion, are so rapid and simple once your method is right. I have seen countless kids have difficulty with a blunt knife and/or no technique. If only someone would explain or show them then the effort required would half and their perception of the task would enhance.
As parents we have a tendency to realize that daily fixing a meal can degenerate to hard work when you are worn-out, trying to fit in the demands of a busy way of life, family and career.
We all have to eat daily. We all need food skill-sets and we want great tasting results without ever wasting either ingredients or energy. Acquiring the ability to cook is one of the best gifts you are able to give your child. The challenge for parents is to build an interest in cooking and to make it fun. We need fun recipes for kids. As a rule cookbooks are written by adults, for adults and your child most likely won’t find them very motivating. I propose you find a cookbook or a program that is teen led and utlizes humor to encourage your child to have a go!
Author Resource:-
Glenda Gourley is a food and nutrition educator who has a passion for getting kids into the kitchen cooking and having fun. She has developed a strategy specifically for teenage children. Her website is designed to help parents and teachers to teach kids to cook: her other site is hosted by her teenage daughter Claire, and aims to inspire kids to cook with easy, fun, healthy recipes. Together, Glenda’s experience in practical food skills and nutrition education, combines brilliantly with Claire’s ability to motivate and engage teenagers. This is a totally unique approach which is having overwhelming success.
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