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.

When I was little, maybe about 5, I realised 'that tea in bed' was something my parents would love. So I half boiled the kettle, Mummy had told me how dangerous hot water was, I half filled the mugs, so as not to spill, and Sis and I took them their tea. I am sure it was quite disgusting, but it was a start.

By the time I was 9 I had bought my first cookery book, with my pocket money. I made a three course meal from it, with my younger sister's help, and none from my parents, as a surprise for them. Obviously sis and I did not get to that stage without sharing and enjoying cooking with our parents, but they were surprised what we were capable of.

I don't let my 9 year old make a cup of tea...he would most likely pour hot water all over himself.

He does know how to make pancakes and cheese sauce, measure porridge, ect. DH does let him stir the porridge with supervision. I think it's good for kids to hang out in the kitchen to pick up the basics like pastry making and other simple things.

Pizza is a great starting place for things like this, nice and simple but yummy results!!

I can't believe some of the attitudes on here! Someone saying they don't even let the 6 yr old in the kitchen when they are cooking to someone who sends their DC off to university when he hasn't cooked!!
Thank goodness for the scouts and schools and other organisations who think them capable. Of course a 7 yr old can cook, and if they can't you should be helping them start.
My DS had 10yr old Scouts cooking when he was 15yrs old. They did a whole meal including deep frying doughnuts when I can see some parents on here would still think cup cakes exciting!
DCs love cooking-I have never met one who doesn't. No wonder they are madly keen if they have parents who won't let them chop things or boil kettles.
Sometimes I think that I must live in a parallel universe.

gingerwrath good point and might have thought of that myself had i not been too busy pmsl at the suggestion of me being some lazy slag who has a dirty house and cant be arsed looking after the children i have accidently conceived. But best giggle i have had this year thanks fabby

Mind you, I do trust my 9 yo with sharp knives. He's pretty sensible with those. I guess it's about judging the child.

Just had a read to catch up and see that a few people from my planet have joined us. ((((((waves)))))

pizza a great idea (esp if you have a breadmaker). my three and six year olds just made their own pizzas tonight, i'd let the sauce cool so they could spoon it on and they whacked it in themselves.

i would also suggest jacket pots and tuna. mine will peel carrot and grate it and add grated cucumber (squeezed through clean paws) and add mayonnaise, and pricking some potatoes isn't too difficult. presume you'd only be needed for lifting them out of the oven and opening them up.

i would be wary of kettles, though.

bigbarn I love cooking and it is my 'me' time, but dd wants to know what I am doing, there is more to education then school!

Depends on the child totally. One of mine could easily make a cuppa at 7, the other one I probably wont allow too due to clumsiness (although he can make a great cake under supervision; he knows the whole procedure and weights).

I find the slow cooker is a great starting point.

Much less heat, boiling liquids and high drama. Nonetheless, it is a legitimate way to make a real me.

My 5 year old and my 7 year old can cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker. I give them the bird, and a selection of seasonings in little piles on a plate (TV chef stylee) and leave them to get on with it.

My seven year old had also made pasta sauce in th slow cooker - but she says chopping onions make her eyes water, so she gave up on that.

I used to make tea and toast for myself and my parents when I was 7. In fact, I used to bring my mum a cup of tea in bed most mornings. It made me feel grown up!

DS (7) and I have made pizza together, but his usual chores are to set the table, to put napkins away and put his clothes in the basket.

i reckon my parents' russell hobbs was more stable and easier to lift than these new, taller kettles, because the handle was above the water rather than to the side, iykwim?

As kids my brothers were waited on hand and foot by my parents and even now their wives complain about their lack of domestic/cooking skills. They had little practical help for adulthood, thanks to my parents lack of thought

How about making his own sandwiches for school, beans on toast, scrambled eggs, soups with low supervision. Or give him a higher level of supervision and your recipe book - let him find something he wants to cook

I think cooking together would be great fun for you both - I used to get my godkids to help me with simple stuff like scrambled eggs - but your kid seems a bit young for no/minimal supervision around the kettle and cooker.

Also, if you want him to learn a bit more responsibility, there's always tidying, dusting, vacuuming, washing up, cleaning the bathroom...

Falling off my seat laughing at people saying 'kids should be kids, so do everything for them until they go to uni'! Yes, kids should be kids, not spoilt princelings!

You wouldn't send your kid to Uni/Work without putting them through school first, so why would you let them leave home without having equipped them with any of the skills they need to look after themselves (including the skill of time management, where they've learned to make time for work, housework and play)?

I am at some of these replies on here, although my DSis is similar so maybe i shouldn't be (i just thought she was odd )

DD's 5 and 3 have always helped us cook. Both can peel and chop a carrot/mushrooms/tomatoes/cucumber etc. In fact they make themselves chopped salads at the weekend. DD1 brought me one in bed for breakfast which included chopped chorizo and a sliced banana, so i think we need to work on flavour combinations.....

I was a brownie/guide/venture scout so used to camping/cooking from a young age.

I do agree kettles can be very dangerous but teaching children rather than banning them from touching them surely has to be the answer?

Slow cooker is a brilliant idea. He could just roll some cubed meat in seasoned flour, add beans or tinned tomatoes, a glass of wine and some stock, and there's a casserole.

You could teach him how to make a white sauce, as that cooks over a very low heat, grate in the cheddar and make a macaroni cheese.

Bigbarn I think the number of 'how very dare you' replies is really sad. If your 7 year old is already capable of making a cup of tea, then he can cook a meal, if he'd like to. If he has to do it to teach him a lesson because you feel taken for granted, chances are he'd be resentful. But if he's taught that cooking is pleasurable and a source of independence and pride, then he'll be happy about it. Same with cleaning. I have a DC who begs to be 'allowed' to scrape limescale off the shower unit. As a 'special treat' I let him!

I'd maybe start with something very simple and safe, like warming wraps in the microwave, shredding left over roast chicken and chopping salad with a not too sharp knife for chicken tortillas. (But I'm maybe wussier than you.) My DC don't have the motor skills or wrist strength to handle pans or kettles of boiling water, and I'd be nervous of spitting fat and very sharp knives, but there's lots you can do which don't involve those.

My DC have helped cook since they were tiny. Best spag bol we ever tasted was made almost entirely by my two year old on a high chair, stirring mince incessantly and grating veg into the pan which cooked for about three hours over the lowest heat you can get. They're older than your DC, but I'm hoping they can put a simple meal together for the family soon - they keep asking to.

And cubs LOVE cooking for each other.

As kids my brothers were waited on hand and foot by my parents and even now their wives complain about their lack of domestic/cooking skills. They had little practical help for adulthood, thanks to my parents lack of thought

It is the parent's job to give their DC the skills and they can start very early. It is just lazy parenting to do it all yourself and not let them do things they are perfectly capable of managing. Schools, cubs etc manage whole groups of DCs cooking so I think that you can quite easily cope with one 7yr old in your own kitchen.
People entirely underestimate DCs, and what they can do, and it is very sad because they get such satisfaction and self esteem from doing it.

I'm the youngest of 7. I think my Mum was pretty relaxed by the time I came along - she had seen it all. When I was 7, I used to stand on a chair at the stove and make pancakes (my Mum and older brother and sister were sitting at the table right beside the stove) and also fry eggs with a cheery, "How do you like your egg done?" I loved it, I loved being able to help and getting attention for being grown up. My Mum loved being able to sit down for 10 minutes while I turned the pancakes, etc. I think it all depends on the child. Pancakes were my first recipe, and it was easy to then teach me fried eggs. The next thing I learned was how to make homemade bread - it's just flour, yeast, warm water and a dollop of butter, plus time and patience. I had a little breadpan and made a child-sized loaf when my Mum made the family-sized loaf. I was encouraged to enter my bread into the country fair and won a prize.... start small with recipes that have very few ingredients and a high success rate. Then build from that. Things like knives and hot boiling kettles can wait!

I agree with other posters, that it is more work to encourage children to have a go and get things set up for them. My son is not two, and loooooves to use the breadmaker. He helps get the ingredients out, and carry them to the counter. He drags the chair over, and gets out the scales. He helps measure out the ingredients, put them in the pan, pour the water in, slice the butter with a butter knife and put the pan into the machine. Pressing the buttons is just the icing on the cake. We have the recipe memorised. Then we put all the ingredients back into the cupboard and drag the chair back to the table. It takes about 15 minutes. I can do it myself in 5 minutes. But he loooves this ritual, knowing that he helped, and how I brag to everyone about how good his bread is.

As for being more independent and responsible, make a sticker chart and reward them for things they do around the house - my son has one and he's not quite two. He gets stickers for helping with the dishwasher, helping to brush his teeth, eating dinner, etc. Make your own with some crayons and you can personalise it to whatever areas you're working on. You could add in "help make dinner" on one night of the week for your older one, for example.

I would be pissed off if DS went to a camp at that age and was expected to do the cooking. A bit of tidying up after meals is one thing but they should be having fun not cooking meals for large numbers of people.

This is why they want to go to camp!! Especially so if they have parents like this. They love it-I have never met one who didn't.

I thought I was pretty used to reading strange posts on MN so that I was no longer shocked-but I find that I am shocked, and saddened, by some of the posts on here by parents who are not willing to make an effort with their DCs.

You only have to watch some of the junior chef programmes to see that young DCs are perfectly capable of cooking whole meals when some parents still haven't let them in to the kitchen to even watch!

Well at 5 I was allowed to pour the tea and I got it down myself and burnt my chest - still have a tiny scar. At 7 I could make beans on toast, at 9 I was a dab hand at pastry, at 11 I was the best in the class at cookery, at 13 I could dish up a dinner, at 15 I made my first quiche, at 18 I came top at cookery at finishing school with the fiersome lady from laddette to lady.

At 51 as a good home cook I can turn to my hand to a hot lunch for 45 and a buffet for 150. I can also cook most things from scratch and make up a few of my own recipes.

A bit of encouragement and joining in and learning about danger on the way does no harm at all.

My dc are 13 and 17 now. They have helped chop and boil and mix from very early on. They don't have my innate interest (like me as a domestic amateur) but they will survive!

I have said at no point they shouldn't cook though but I still dont agree with them being made to cook on a camp. I have taken children from the age of 7 to 18 on a variety of camps and courses and other than when part of the weekend was a cookery course we have never felt the need to make them cater for themselves, infact the fact it takes a team of 3 most of the day to do various meals it would take away time from everything else.

But you don't make them Sirzy, they want to do it, to the extent I had them queueing up at the last camp to make my breakfast for me.

And yes, I ate it! :)

When I have taken DCs away the entire highlight of the trip has been cooking-probably because it is such a novelty having parents who don't trust them or can't be bothered or are over protective.