"Get your own night" - ready, steady, YOU cook, kids! (Kids in the Kitchen)

Member Name: fluffy duffy

Product:	Kids in the Kitchen
Date:	07/07/07 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Independant kids who learn valuable life skills

Disadvantages: eating us out of house and home, ah well, what's new?

My partner and I have 4 children between us aged from 10 to 14. We try to eat as a family at least 5 nights a week, usually a home cooked from scratch meal. One Wednesday, having made a special effort and cooked on this occasion three separate meals, all the kids did was moan and groan about the food. I announced that the next day I was going on food strike and was not going to prepare any meals. The kids all laughed their socks off....until breakfast time when we stayed upstairs and they had to get their own cereals and toast. On opening the fridge, there were no packed lunches ready. Muttering under their breath, the oldest two organised a production line of buttering bread etc. After school. the kids all rolled in and they asked if they could have a snack....the answer was yes but you have to get it yourself. More muttering followed and they piled into the kitchen to learn how to use the toaster. Piles of homework and football later and the fab four congregate in the kitchen, sniffing the air like the Bisto kids. Yes, that's right kids, you have to get your own dinner too. And all credit to them, that is exactly what they did.

"Get your own night" has become a family favourite. The kids loved it so much that they all asked to have "Get your own night" once a week. The basic rules are:
* If you are not sure how to cook it, ask a parent
*Meals should have at least one, preferably two portions of vegetables and/or fruit
*Don't use up the entire contents of the fridge and cupboards!
*Enjoy cooking
*Clean up your own mess!
Trust us, it has worked a treat. The kids are all confident of using the oven and hob safely. We supervise from a distance and there is a fire blanket and extinguisher in the kitchen in any case.

And what did we eat that day? We cheated! After all the kids had eaten and cleared away, we had a kebab each from the local van. Delicious! And the kids now cook for us on "Get your own night."

We have developed the idea to include shopping for their food occasionally, giving them a budget to work with and they have to produce a meal from that. Popular, but the youngest one had to be convinced that chips from the chippy does not count as getting your own.

It's taught them all to be more appreciative of how hard it can be to get tasty meals cooked that everyone likes, they are all starting to get used to planning balanced meals, they are all confident and so are we about them using kitchen equipment. Plus we are not bothered at all about them being able to cope when the oldest go off to college, university or just leave home, they have had plenty of practise. If only they would moan about my ironing........

Summary: How we taught our kids a lesson and got to enjoy a kebab in the process!