My Eight Year Old Cooks Real Food - And Your Kids Can Too!

The other night my three children, ages 8, 4, and 3 cooked dinner for the family by themselves (I snapped this pic above as evidence!). No, this is not a dream, and yes, it was perfectly edible, tasty, in fact.

Photo Apr 25, 6 10 25 PM

Photo Apr 25, 6 10 25 PM

The other night my three children, ages 8, 4, and 3 cooked dinner for the family by themselves (I snapped this pic above as evidence!). No, this is not a dream, and yes, it was perfectly edible, tasty, in fact. You see,  I have always been the main cook in the family. I am very blessed that my husband is happy to relieve me some days, and knows his way around the kitchen very well. I enjoyed cooking from scratch even before my real food days, but once I added in the extra preparation of soaking, fermenting and sprouting, I knew that it was going to be exhausting to keep it all up by myself. Besides that, I had become convinced that the best way to help my kids begin to make good food choices was to get them in the kitchen with me every day and forming good food habits.

How It All Started

My oldest, who is now 8, has been in the kitchen with me since she was about 2, though we didn’t start doing real food until she was 5. She began cooking entire breakfast meals and a few other things by the time she was 7. As soon as my younger daughter was about to understand and recognize numbers, about three, I taught her how to measure out and soak rice, beans, and oats. My baby, who is now 3 (wow!), happily stirred things for his sister, or was the designated taste tester.

My oldest daughter wanted to make a video (on the fly!) to show other kids the how-to of soaking beans and rice. She doesn’t get into the nutrition explanation of it so much, though she does understand why we do it, but it’s a good demonstration of something that she has been able to do for quite some time now. She is now capable of cooking many meals on her own. That dinner we ate the other day was a recipe she concocted all by herself! Little sis helped measure ingredients and my little man helped chop some things in his chopper.

How Can You Get Your Kids in the Kitchen?

Lorelei is getting more passionate about what she is learning and wants other kids to know that they can do it too! All of my kids appear with me in the Real Food Kids eBook and eCourse on GNOWFGLINS, the point of which is to give parents helpful strategies, tools, and encouragement to invite their children (all ages!) into the kitchen, in real-life learning situations, in order to teach them the importance of real food, nutrition, and cooking. These are life giving skills that are just as important as the daily hygiene practices and household chores we teach our children. Our motto is “Everyone eats, everyone cooks!”

 

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2 thoughts on “My Eight Year Old Cooks Real Food - And Your Kids Can Too!”

  1. what a legacy you are creating. these are the most relevant lessons for kids these days. I am learning this from my children.
    you are so soulful…I’m inspired by your whole family.

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