What can your 9 year old cook?

[wegetthejobdone]

I'm trying to encourage my 9 year old to cook meals rather than cake. He does like cooking and can use the oven and hob independently (although he can't use the grill as its too high up), and he can chop veg safely. Its helping his confidence to cook by himself which he really needs at the moment.

What do your 9 year olds or a little older cook for the family? I'm particularly looking for simple meat based meals as I'm vegetarian so aware my meat based cooking is pretty limited.

Both DDs (8 and 5) do a meal each every week.

Pahahahahahahaha

@hexmeginny

Both DDs (8 and 5) do a meal each every week.

Pahahahahahahaha

Why is that funny?

Before I even opened this thread I knew it would contain the response

'oh just some basic stuff, nothing fancy. Curry, a few sauces, simple baked goods such as brioche and ciabatta'.

Genuinely, I'm impressed. Good luck to these awesome 9 year olds. My ten year old can't get himself a drink of milk from the fridge but I suppose he'll get there eventually.

What DD could make at 8/9 and what she would make at 12 onwards were very different.
She liked to help with the house work when she was young too!

She moved out at 17 though and has managed perfectly well.

@GunsAndShips Why is that funny?

Because the OP asked for ideas for what her 9 year old can cook on his own to grow more confidence. Cue mumsnet with a load of examples of what their DC's can cook.

What is actually happening is the DC's are helping out in the kitchen or learning to cook, which is great and should be encouraged, but cooking with supervision or help is not independent like the OP asked.

Is anyone really allowing their 5 & 8 year old's manage sharp knives, hot ovens, hot pans, boiling water, independently?

Is anyone really allowing their 5 & 8 year old's manage sharp knives, hot ovens, hot pans, boiling water, independently?

This is what baffles me. My dc help me cook. They can both make a simple sponge cake batter without my supervision. I do the oven stuff.

But do people really send their five year old into the kitchen, not supervise at all and hey presto, a hot meal appears?! Really?

We often underestimate children’s ability. Of course most healthy ten year olds can read a recipe and cook a meal. Modern living seems to created a culture of treating children like incompetent beings that should suddenly develop into competent adults on the eve of their eighteenth birthday.
Most can read ordinary cookbooks. They don’t need simple children’s ones. Most can use a mixer, a knife (shock) and an oven perfectly well. Most simply aren’t allowed or encouraged to.

For those with dc who want to learn or have a few skills but need to learn more, I recommend Cookstars. They did classes over zoom during lockdown which were great and now do an Academy class on Saturdays, and classes during the week for younger ones. We do the academy class which is aimed at secondary school pupils or students and it is really helping dd to develop her skills and she engages better with it than with me telling her. Might work for some of your dc.

For the sake of balance in this thread I want to point out that my nine year old can pour herself a glass of milk (unless the milk carton is full and too heavy) and that she attempts to spread butter on her toast (though often needs some assistance if there’s ‘lumpy bits’ in the butter).

I’ll never be a proper mumsnet mum...

Nobody is sending a 5yo into the kitchen unsupervised and I suspect most of the 9yr olds are supervised too. There are loads of things my dc can do unsupervised like gardening, washing the car, having a bath, washing hair, cleaning teeth, their reading and spellings and so on. Do I supervise these activities? Yes. Sometimes. To different degrees at different times.

And responding when you have an 8yo to a thread about 9yos is to be expected. As conversations do, it evolves into a discussion about when dc start these things.

My 9yo likes to cook. He likes to cook things he wants to eat. I can list all the stuff he's shit at or behind in if it helps?

There's good evidence to suggest that children are much safer with knives if you teach them the skill young btw.

Why is that funny?

Oh c'mon! A 5 year old preparing a family meal once a week?

Is anyone really allowing their 5 & 8 year old's manage sharp knives, hot ovens, hot pans, boiling water, independently?

Not a 5 -year-old (go upthread and read the post from the person whose 5-year-old 'cooks a family meal' - she meant she was helping cook) but my 9 year old is indeed unsupervised with the oven, the hob and knives.

Obviously they were not unsupervised the first eleventy-billion times, but once they know how, they know how. Getting a hot cake tin out of the oven is totally safe if you have heat-protective gloves and somewhere to set it down immediately. Using a sharp knife to cut an apple into chunks for crumble is totally safe if you have decent knife skills. Using the hob is safe if you understand what to do.

You don't become capable of doing it unsupervised without having done it supervised loads and loads of times. But it is possible for a 9-year-old to make simple meals unsupervised.

I really can't stress this enough: both of my kids do the majority of the work. Not helping, doing the bulk of the prep and cooking. It is simply not hard to chop veg or meat, turn on an oven or hob, mix a sauce, open a tin, boil pasta, put something in the oven.

It's certainly slow! But it's not difficult.

Not unsupervised, or without reminders of the next step, but I've explained exactly what she does. The 9 year olds would also not be unsupervised so that's a moot point.

OP said: I'm trying to encourage my 9 year old to cook meals rather than cake...What do your 9 year olds or a little older cook for the family?

Not on his own, or unsupervised.

My son makes dinner for us once a week

He can cook sausages, roast chicken, spaghetti and meatballs, pot noodles, make burgers, etc.

He loves kitchen gadgets that help him with cooking so he has a veggie chopper, electric veggie peeler and a burger press.

My 11yo basically runs the kitchen and cooks 5 star meals 3x a day for the family.

Oh wait, that’s just mumsnet!

I don't know how people have the patience to teach children how to cook and hang around supervising them, I am dumbfounded.

How?

I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon!

@AfterSchoolWorry

I don't know how people have the patience to teach children how to cook and hang around supervising them, I am dumbfounded.

How?

I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon!

Well, to begin with they just help you as you cook the family meal. So if you’re making tray bake chicken and the DC says “Can I help?” then you give them tasks and explain what you’re doing as you go. Eventually, having “helped” a lot, they know how to do it.

You don’t just say “Right, you’re making spaghetti bolognese- go!” and hang about supervising passively. It’s more hands on and yes sometimes it might be slower but if you’re already needing to cook every meal they may as well be in the kitchen too. It’s the same time commitment.

If you don’t like cooking yourself and can’t tolerate any mess then I appreciate you might feel differently.

@AfterSchoolWorry

I don't know how people have the patience to teach children how to cook and hang around supervising them, I am dumbfounded.

How?

I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon!

But isn't that our responsibility? Who do you think is going to teach them to cook?

TOAST. That's it.

@formerbabe

Is anyone really allowing their 5 & 8 year old's manage sharp knives, hot ovens, hot pans, boiling water, independently?

This is what baffles me. My dc help me cook. They can both make a simple sponge cake batter without my supervision. I do the oven stuff.

But do people really send their five year old into the kitchen, not supervise at all and hey presto, a hot meal appears?! Really?

I think it's obvious that this isn't what happens! People are exaggerating what their kids actually do. Children of that age are helping at the very most.

@AfterSchoolWorry

I don't know how people have the patience to teach children how to cook and hang around supervising them, I am dumbfounded.

How?

I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon!

These are probably people who already enjoy cooking and spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen. I'm not competitively crap-mumming but after a day at work and school I want to produce a meal as quickly as possible and my DS wants to watch TV or play Xbox while I do it. Getting DS to plan meals and cook them would be a horrible, frustrating, time wasting experience for both of us so it's not something I've every done.

Well, to begin with they just help you as you cook the family meal. So if you’re making tray bake chicken and the DC says “Can I help?” then you give them tasks and explain what you’re doing as you go. Eventually, having “helped” a lot, they know how to do it.

And because they are children, you can give them the crap jobs like peeling garlic. Because they don't know how tedious that is. Eventually they get better then you get these jobs delegated back. but at least there's a small break.

Over 50 years ago I was trained in this because it was what young girls were trained in. It's just how it was. I was also trained in cleaning, bed-making and so on. My Mother tried with sewing, embroidery and knitting, but no luck there. I remember learning to iron with a cool iron - and just handkerchieves. But that was pretty normal I think.

Christ! I have a nearly 10 year old that I haven’t let loose near the kettle or toaster yet never mind the oven or hob 🤣. And to be honest I can’t see it happening anytime soon. For starters our fridge is high and he can’t reach anything in it without standing on a chair.

@anniversarywoes

This thread is soooo Mumsnet it hurts My 2 year can effortlessly cater a dinner party for 8. 4 courses, including a selection of complicated desserts. Do I win?

I mean I’m assuming at least ONE of the desserts is flambée