Helpful tips on getting your kids to help out. (Kids in the Kitchen)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	Kids in the Kitchen
Date:	19/01/06 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nothing for me to do - lol

Disadvantages: none whatsoever

When I saw this catagory had no guidelines written under it the title was too tempting for me not to respond to. You see the first thing I thought of was "Yes Please". There's the washing up, the cleaning of the oven, the use of the washing machine and the dreaded mopping of the laminate so take your pick kids.

Seriously though I know most of the reviewers have concentrated on baking and cooking along with your kids and I will come to that later but I wanted to put a few other ideas out there first so that we can turn our kids into responsible adults who know how to do the simplest tasks that most of us mums do every day without any thanks or even anyone noticing.

When my girls were younger they didn't get pocket money as such but I paid for things that they needed (not always wanted) and if they had been really good they would get treats such as cinema, McDonalds, etc etc. They got to an age though when they wanted a little bit of independence and to be taught a little bit of common sense when it came to handling money. I was loathe to just hand out money to them for the sake of it though as some parents do and we came up with a system where they got so much money for doing simple everyday jobs round the house - mostly involving the kitchen.

We started off with a fun chart which I typed up on the computer which listed the days and the tasks that I had thought up which they could earn money doing. We sat down and discussed what we thought was a fair rate for each task as a family and then I typed these up as a separate list so there could be no arguing later. Once tasks had been done properly then my partner or myself placed a tick in the appropriate box and they would get the money they had earned on the Sunday each week.

Dishes is the one that they do every day and as they already washed and dried between them they thought it great to get 50p each, every day they did this task. Other things were washing the laminate, helping collect the dirty washing and sorting it out when it was clean, cleaning the microwave/oven, cleaning the bathroom and hoovering the rest of the house (off topic for this review I know) - the type of things that can do with getting done once a week - and then if they did extras they would get a fee paid as agreed at the time. In total on a normal week they could earn about £6 each which we agreed was a reasonable amount that we could afford and wasn't giving them too much cash to waste. Extras of course cost me more.

I can now say that because of this they know how to wash dishes correctly, what type of cleaner to use on surfaces and floors and the importance of cleaning inside a microwave and oven regularly. Now before you all start shouting slave driver at me I feel that I have benefitted them in that they will be able to do this for themselves when they are older as well as earning them some cash into the bargain. They have also learned that money does not grow on trees and if they want something they have to work and save for it. I want my girls to be able to take pride in whatever abode they find themselves in and even though I'm not exactly the tidiest person around I believe in things being clean.

The other important thing I think kids should be taught is the art of cooking. Now I don't mean fancy stuff but just simple basics - like how to roast a chicken or how to boil potatoes (some of you are probably laughing at this one as you say to yourself 'How Can You Not Know How To Boil Potatoes' but my bloke was left to cook tea one night and had to phone his mother to find out what to do after peeling them - he was 24 when this happened and I was torn whether to laugh or cry when he told me). Whether your kids are off to University or are setting up their first home I'm sure most mothers worry about whether they will be eating correctly and at least if you show them how to cook a few simple healthy recipes you can put your mind to rest a little bit.

My elder daughter,who will probably be reading this later, now knows how she can at least eat filling food such as pasta with sauce or chicken stir fry as well as basic chicken noodles (8p for Tesco value). I know she won't starve when she moves away to Uni next year and it least she won't just be living on beans on toast as a lot of students do.

Of course getting kids interested in cooking is best started when they are small and the best way to do this is to bake little cupcakes, biscuits or cookies. Firm favourites as they can help with the mixing, rolling out or cutting out favourite shapes.

My 3 year old son loves baking cookies and we have managed to pick up quite a selection of cutters and shapes. Tescos again do a good pack of cutters which include butterfly, cat and rabbit shapes as well as the standard round and star shapes. Another good idea is to watch out for the cheap play doh sets which come with plastic cutters. These are also good and often cheaper than going out and buying specialist cutter sets. We also managed to get a Bob The Builder and Skip set from a reduced pack of the normally expensive cookie mix sets.

Cupcakes are great and you can get some good ready mixed packets which have little pictures to put on the top of favourite characters such as Thomas, Barbie, and Tom & Jerry. These can be expensive however, and I have found that kids will have as much fun if you bake your own (don't panic if you aren't very good at baking cakes from scratch my good friends Tesco do a ready made cake mix in a value pack which only cost about 25p and just needs egg and water adding - I think I should be given shares by Tesco for all the plugs they are getting here.) If you do take this route there are lots of different things you can do to make your cakes appealing such as adding colouring or flavouring to the mixture as well as the icing as well as topping them off with things such as sprinkles or even sweets such as smarties or jelly tots.

Top Hats are another easy delight for children to make and require dipping a marshmallow into melted chocolate and popping a smartie on top. Very easy to do and great for parties.

Whilst you have the melted chocolate out add some cornflakes or rice crispies for another favourite and add in some raisins for a fruity taste.

I have waffled on long enough here I think but I hope I have passed on some useful information and taken the kids in the kitchen to another stage rather than just the cooking bit. I feel it is really important as a family to set up tasks that everyone can help with and it means that mum isn't always left to do everything.

Summary: Getting some help is priceless.