Expecting that a 7 year old could make a simple meal?

[bigbarnfarmer]

I would like my kids to start taking more responsibility, they totally take for granted all i do, like most their age i imagine. However given they are getting older i want to help them become more responsible and more independant.

My 7 year old enjoys food, like sto help in the kitchen and has been making cups of tea for a while now. I was thinking tomorrow i might let him prepare a simple meal, with minimal supervision.

AIBU? and does anyone who thinks its fair enough have any simple meal suggestions.

courgettes--are maybe a bit exo'ic like...but... beans/peas/onions/cabbage/lettuce/tomatos etc etc???

is it glasgow? i know nowt about glasgow....

(dont really watch tv....not in a Guardian Reader way,just dont...)

i know an adult who 'doesnt like vegetables'

its just not possible. How many different kindsof vegetables are there? you cant not like them all surely? they all taste different...it has to be psychological

DS's friend didn't know what peppers were, when he came for dinner.
Also, didn't know what herbs were.

Got it in one!

I can understand not liking A vegetable - one daughter don't like courgettes and one doesn't like mushrooms - but like you, I boggle at not liking any of them. My friend refused to eat our homemade steak pie cos it had veg in it - carrot and onion! And she's 30!

I'm totally agreeing with you bejesus, if I didn't see it myself I'd doubt it too.

When dd started secondary school there was a residential trip to help the new Year 7s to get to know each other. Dh went to the meeting and after the talk joined the queue for those who had questions to ask. Dh just wanted to ask if there was disabled access for dd's wheelchair at the place they were staying, but the man in front of him had a far more pressing concern: he was there to be reassured that his son would not be made to eat vegetables during the trip.

DS (2) really loves marrow. My Nan brought us one and he spent the whole day cuddling it

I have a friend whose children aren't allowed to taste cake and biscuit mixture because it has raw egg in it. No scraping bowls for them

ALL children should scrape bowls

i remember my mum kidding my sister on,that the way to stop the onion from making your eyes sting was to put a tea towel on your head and a tablespoon in your mouth,whilst you cut it......

My sister swore by that method for years!

When we did our kitchen, I wondered about getting a boiling water tap - but demurred on the grounds of not trusting my DC to not touch it. It would probably be much easier for a 7y.o. to use than a kettle.

But rice is a better first starch to cook than pasta. Teach the absorption method. No drain; just magic!

I had the same thoughts about one of those lovely spray/boingy tap thingies footprints but for different reasons.

I had lovely visions of my being able to blast plates clean with it but disturbing ones of my DCs covering everything within spray/boingy tap thingy range with water.

One day, one day it will be safe to have a boingy tap.......

BigBarn I have always had my Ds in the kitchen with me, watching, then helping, with the cooking. He really enjoys it and now, at 8, can cook a number of meals with minimal supervision, and can certainly get a meal started for me to come in and finish, e.g. while I'm doing the washing up he can peel and cut all the eg and start cooking the mince for a bolognese or shepherd's pie or lasagne or chilli.

If he cooks all on his own he always makes noodles with tuna and sweetcorn .

I regularly get a cup of tea from him.

I think it is good to teach enjoyment of cooking. Children can be sensible if they are taught properly, and from a young age.

I wouldn't expect a 7 year old to just know how to cook a meal independently though. They have to be taught first.

DD (now 8) is quite capable of baking some simple items such as cheese straws, muffins, scones etc. She also makes - with supervision - her own pizza dough and then adds toppings. We then put them in the oven for her.

As school holiday club they have been doing baking for years under supervision - certainly since she was 5 or 6 she has been bringing home biscuits etc that she has made, shaped and topped (although I'm sure the teachers did the actual baking).

At weekends she is quite capable of going and making her own cereal and putting things in the toaster.

On the topic of children in the kitchen what where the knives someone suggested somewhere up thread?

DD1 was making shortbread on her own at that age. She'd far rather cook than have to tidy up after the meal.

All my dc love to cook, the more (sensible) independence they have in the kitchen the happier they are and the more tidying up I have afterwards

Honestly, it depends on the child. At nearly 6, DS1 is v keen but very clumsy and tends to get distracted/daydream alot - so he does things like washing fruit/veg, spreading tops on pizzas, baking, pouring juice etc but I wouldnt trust him near a hot hob or kettle at present and really wouldnt like to let him have a sharp knife at present. I should imagine he'll grow up alot in the next year and so may be appropriate for him to do more actual cooking. DS2, nearly 3, is pretty dextrous and keen to help - but far too fearless in the kitchen and simply wont listen so is banned from the cooker, kettle and knives for those reasons!

FWIW, my mum's mum died when she was 8 years old: she grew up in a different country and was the eldest daughter among 7 children and she became responsible for cooking all meals for the family and her father at that age in such sad, sad circumstances - and she was fine (no scalding, cuts etc.)

9y DD is cooking tonight's dinner, her request.
She has chosen to cook turkey and spring onion burgers, served in bread rolls, with a rocket salad.

She is making bread next week in her school cooking lesson and fancies having a go tonight, so she can start that when she gets home from school at 4ish.
I have the ingredients for the burgers - she chose them from a cookbook the other day.
She also chose the salad and hasn't decided yet if she is doing chips or now.

I shall sit in the kitchen whilst she does it, but will get on with some work and leave her to it, helping only if she actually asks me too.

Let's hope she hasn't been given too much homework to scupper her plans now!

Do you mean the pampered chef knives that are safe for children? We had one when DD was smaller and they worked well. But for the last couple of years DD has used proper sharp knives. So far she hasn't cut herself but I did read it is better in terms of healing for a cut if it is done with a sharp one rather than a blunt one. Cutting myself if what I do - all the time - with my knives. I try so hard not to, but am so clumsy! So hopefully DD is learning to be very carefl by watching me show how not to do it!

Hula - we had some of those knives too, but i have actually given them away as i don't like the sawing action you have to do. Much more chance of injury and it is not learning how to cut properly IMO.

DD1 (5) uses our sharp knives on her own, DD2 (3) with supervision and they are much more in control with the sharp knife (again IMO)

i was wondering about the sawing action as well, surely that's more dangerous?

It's ok for mushrooms/cucumber, but when you try carrots or potatoes it all goes a bit Pete Tong

I have never worried much about DD using sharp knives - they're unlikely to get more than a little nick. Its making sure that such things are carried and put away properly that matter more - accidents tend to happen when you're not expecting them. (My DD has a real talent for hurting herself in weird ways and on things which you'd have thought harmless.)

It's dull knives that do the most damage, mainly because they need more pressure to work and therefore if they cut the wrong thing they go deep, and also because they can slip on items like tomatoes, and end up slicing a finger. You want a knife that will cut very easily, for safety's sake.

[grrrrr] about DCs who hate veggies. I had 5 of them. DD1 has now got over herself (they all tasted 'bitter' she said, for years), and DS told me one day that he had eaten broccoli (!) and survived (!) when he called me from university. So maybe there is a glimmer of hope. DD2 was never the worst of them I have to admit, but DDs 3 and 4 have me tearing my hair out.

I can remember many years ago as a Brownie getting a badge for which, among other things, you had to 'lay and light a fire using no more than 2 matches'!

I'm fairly sure that there was some sort of cookery badge, too, that I would have probably taken.

I can remember being able to do roast chicken by the time I was 11, so probably was able to do simple meals when I was 7 - and our gas cooker didn't have a pilot light, sort of bib taps under the front, and it was old-fashioned town gas that you could gas yourself with

You could start with something simple like a boiled egg and soldiers.