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.

YANBU. Kids love cooking under supervision at this age. And it teaches them useful skills for when they are older.

Yes we have it LineRunner! :) It's not the same as Ramen; ramen is just plain noodles without all the stuff in it. I think our equivalent would be the Cup o' Noodles.

yanbu.

Even if they're not very bright they should be capable of making a sandwich. A reasonably intelligent child can be taught anything and a mature one can be trusted to act sensibly without constant surveillance.

DS loves to help cook BUT with several caveats:-

1/ I do anything involving a sharp knife, though he is learniing and has been shown by a chef friend how to handle knives at least once a month for the last 4 years - his sen means his co-ordination isn't yet "all that"

2/ I deal with the hot stuff.

The ktchen is organised so he can be whisking the batter for pancakes away from the hot stove while I'm stewing the fruit on the stove, we have a couple of stools to keep him at the right height to the work top for pastry rolling etc.

He helps cook dinner most days with me, and is getting pretty good. He made this years Xmas cake alone under supervision, from choosing the recipe to follow, measuring the ingredients, right through to making the icing and decorating it himself. My only input was to finance the ingredients and take in and out of the oven when he asked.

A child of 7 can certainly scrub the tatties, rinse the lettuce, lay and wipe down the table, wash up (minus sharp knives), weigh/measure ingredients & spices so learning a life skill without coming to serious harm on a daily basis.

DS's fave things to make himself (Mum does oven duty).

1. Bread - several types cos he loves kneading and I'm lazy. Fave is homemade pizza (often use left overs for toppings anyway).

1. Pancake batter - he loves using the handwhisk ; )

1. Muffins for his packed lunches.

1. Lazy china chicken 6 tsp, white wine, soy sauce, 1 tsp mustard and a spoonful of brown sauce poured over chicken thighs and roasted.

1. sandwiches.

1. Helps a lot with washing veg from the veg patch for sunday roast - eg shelling peas, washing carrots etc.

1. Stews of various kinds in the slow cooker.

8 Lots of pasta dishes are very simple if you want to do summat more advanced?

Making him responsible for clearing the table after meals was a smart move on my part - saves valuable minutes if you are working/have guests and makes the daily grind less drudge like for you. It's the least glamourous bit of the meal but kids need to learn it doesn't do itself.

Too many young people leave home utterly clueless how to run a home that it's cruel. I'm still shocked at how many of his friends Mums live at iceland cos they don't know any better. The Economic situation with high uni fees etc mean we aren't doing our kids any favours if they don't leave home able to cook & meal plan frugally. DS has sen, I can't take away a lot of his issues but I can at least ensure he can feed himself properly when he flies the nest.

Cup o' Noodles!

I can imagine Joey Tribbiani loving it for breakfast!

Anyway, that's what my DD can cook.

Surely it depends on the child and their particular capabilities coupled with adequate supervision. If it's fun and skill they want to learn then there is no harm in encouraging it but if they aren't that bothered I'd leave it and try again when they are a bit older.

I was fending for myself from younger than that - it doesn't mean it is right, and it doesn't mean it is right / wrong for everyone.

If your child is matyure enough and wants to cook I don't see any reason they can't. My local FE college do a Saturday morning young cooks session for that age group.

You are supervising so you can ensure knifes are held propperly, chopping boards are not used for raw meat and then veg.

stir fry noodles - easy and cheap if you need to throw away

Ingredients

one pack of chap supermarket own brand noodles
veg - either fresh and chop of a packet of frozen mixed veg
chicken (can leave out) breast with no skin and bone makes it easier
salt / pepper /soy sauce
water
cooking oil

you also need a wok or frying pan

1. put the kettle on to boil

2. chop veg if fresh

3. chop chicken if using into pieces about 3cm x 3cm

4. put the oil in the wok and heat the wok

5. fry the chicken until cooked

6. add veg and stir fry with salt pepper soy sauce

7. once cooked put the noodles in the pan- throw the packet of seasoning - it's rubbish

8. pour over enough hot water to soften the noodles

as soons as the noodles are cooked then serve

Other easy starter meals

fishfinger sandwiches
cheese on toast
beans on toast

I notice many of the accidents with tea mentioned involved children who were not taught to make tea but decided to have a go anyway. Surely it's better to teach and supervise and explain about safety? If someone had explained to me to get an an adult when I wanted to fetch something from the cupboard above the teapot, I would not have scalded myself (and broken a teapot). I think it's great that you are teaching them to cook.

I got half way through this and gave up

I am not surprised! Of course boiling the kettle is a risky operation, therefore you can do it with them and supervise the whole time, it doesn't mean that you ban them from ever doing it.
The kitchen is the hub of the house IMO and they should be there at an early age, starting really young by playing with the pastry and a rolling pin and gradually moving on. Someone said they might let them start by the time they were 11/12yrs which is far too late-they will be doing it at school by then.
I have made soup with 10yr olds at school starting with chopping all the vegetables, stirring it on the hob and then liquidising it, while hot. I can see now why some of them had to be shown how to chop-their parents had neglected to do it.
I was in one school and a chef came in and worked with a whole class of 8/9yr olds and got them all cooking at once-they all got enthused about food and tasting new things. He did quite ambitious cooking.
I used to go into school as a voluntary helper when my DCs were small, before I went back to work, and cook with groups of year 6 and I can truthfully say that I don't know a single DC who didn't love it.
I would say that those who think it is a burden for a DC, and that if they go away they should have outside caterers, either don't like cooking themselves or underestimate their own DCs so much that they do things that are terribly boring e.g. getting an 8yr old to help in the way that you would get a 4 yr old to help.
There seem to be a lot of parents who don't want to do any of the difficult parts of parenting-they would rather play safe than prepare them for life.

As a Beaver leader I would say that some of the most successful meetings were the ones involving cooking. We put things in the oven and took them out-they did the rest.

How did I know Fabby would be on here, the original and best Mummy Martyr ever!

My 2.6 year old helps with the baking. He loves stirring and adores the decorating part! I am hoping to get him to help with making dinner soon, but our hob (really cheap electric thing with no indication that the rings are hot (rented house so I can't change it)) scares me so I'm not very keen on him using it!

A meal needn't involve fire or boiling water. A 7 yr old is more than capable of making a sandwich, a salad or pressing the buttons on a microwave to make a Jkt potato then grating some cheese over it.

of course a 7yr old can cook! my just 7 yr old will stab potatoes and then put olive oil on them to bake them he can heat up beans, grate cheese etc, very easy simple meal.#

my elder three can all peel and chop, my 12yr old can cook most meals with a bit of a watchful eye from me and he makes a mean spag bog or cheesecake.

i have always had mine in the kitchen and involved in cooking and preparation from a young age!

Of course you should teach them to cook!

It's a life skill!

And yes I tipped kettle water over my hand as a child filling a hotwater bottle, and I like an idiot touched the electric hob ring to see if it was hot, didn't do either of those things twice though.

My children have been involved in all aspects of running a home since they were tiny, from chopping mushrooms, to menu planning, to polishing shower doors, to sweeping the floors and weeding the gardens. We ALL muck in and get on with it.

I am at a loss as to how other people expect children to cope in life with ridiculous comments about "danger!" and "let them be children" ....are they all going to get an "adult upgrade" if and when they are ever allowed to leave home?

and they can all make sandwiches, get bfast etc for themselves, they will help ds4 get his bfast as well. children need to learn life skills, get them involved from a young age and it will become second nature and just part of what they do, not a chore.

I think that it is sad that there are parents, like Fabby, who send their DCs off to university clueless. I know that they do because my DCs come across them. It is lazy parenting.
It is no wonder people don't get on with MIL when they meet a DH who can't cook, clean, iron etc and they find that it was all because MIL thought it was good parenting to do it all herself.

I'm glad that you are back 4madboys-remember the thread where people thought they couldn't even have a baby/toddler/preschool DC in the kitchen while they were cooking. Advice was that were not allowed to spend time there making chutney etc until they were safely out at school-or you were classed as irresponsible at best, abusive at worst!!

If you do start them at 11yrs with the sort of thing that you would let a 2 yr old do of course they will be bored and not enjoy it!

I havent had time to read all the thread yet, just to say that Ds now 16, learnt to cook by watching Jamie Oliver. The first thing he made almost independently after cookies and buns was bread, the one where Jamie chucks the whole packet of flour on the worktop. By 8 he could do a reasonable stir fry, preparing and cooking (with me surfingmn) watching at the kitchen table. He was later at making cups of tea about 8 or 9. There are def some very simple ideas in here, it good for social skills, maths, reading, creative skills. I whole heartedly recomend letting them progress and not obviously supervising closely.
YY to the scouts, ds has been cooking with them for years over open flames!!! Shock horror, actually IMVHO flames are a good way to learn about cooking because they are so hot and very very visible thereby permeating 99.9% of childrens brains so they dont get hurt.
YY to helping with heavy stuff esp if you have stuff like Le Creuseut, fgs I cant carry that if I'm not feeling up to scratch. Well done OP IMVHO (again).

I think that supervising a seven-year-old to make a simple meal sounds entirely reasonable. Clearly they will be limited by what they can safely manage (so if they can't physically pick up a pan of boiling pasta safely to drain it without scalding themselves that wouldn't be appropriate) but why not start if they are interested? Part of a parent's job is to teach them to look after themselves: along with washing (self and clothes), cleaning their home and shopping, this includes preparing food as a basic life skill.

For what it's worth:

my two year old had a lovely time helping her grandparents to make a salad thise weekend. I am not exaggerating: she helped with washing tomatoes, tearing lettuce and peeling eggs.

when he was about seven my husband had been taught to make bread from scratch: measuring out the ingredients, mixing and shaping them before leaving them to rise. As well as teaching him loads of useful skills, it also had the practical upshot of gainfully employing him when he woke up at 5am. No one forced him to do this, he did it because he enjoyed it.

Speaking for myself, I'll consider that I will have failed if my daughter cannot do these sort of domestic things for herself competently by the time she is ready to leave home.

well done OP. some crazy responses here about not letting 7 year olds in the kitchen etc.

ds is 3. he thoroughly enjoys measuring out ingredients for cakes/pancakes, cracking eggs, whisking, chopping soft veggies (broccoli, cucumber etc) with a blunt knife, putting bread in the toaster, grating cheese etc. he knows to be careful with knives, he knows to stand well back if i open the oven, he knows not to go near the hob or the kettle yet. I very much hope he will be making simple meals by the age of 7 - cooking is an essential life skill and the younger he learns it, the better he is likely to be at it.

oh, and i agree with exoticfruits - it's lazy parenting not to equip children properly for life.

There's a difference between showing them how to cook and leaving them to it, and I think you're of the former school OP, so I completely agree.

It's fun, and will be jolly useful. I am now having to play catch up with my 17 year old DS as he'll be at Uni in self catering halls by the Autumn and I'm having to do a 6 month crash course in absolutely everything for him - which is utterly my fault for having always taken the easier/quicker option of doing everything myself.

Lovely to hear of all the tales of cooking going on.

My DD1 is 7 in April and can chop, stir on the hob, measure etc. She can make the bolognese part of spag bol by herself (with me in the kitchen) and measure out the pasta, put the cold water on etc. I just do the draining of the pasta and supervision of the helping sizes! We have done cake making since she was about 2 and now all 3 of my kids (inc my 3 year old) know how to use a hand mixer safely, break eggs and fold in flour etc etc

I do remember friends at uni being unable to cook anything and having to live on toast / takeout rubbish as even tomato pasta was beyond them. I don't force the kids to do anything but they enjoy helping and are learning useful skills at the same time.

Thanks to the Scout, Guides and Brownies leaders too. You have reminded me that you can be a Brownie once you are 7 so I have emailed to get my DD1 on the waiting list for after Easter. Fantastic! I loved being a Brownie.

Ds is 10 and he can make muffins from scratch, a lemon drizzle cake, scrambled eggs, toast, an omlette and falafel he can also chop pretty well and safely as he went to a junior cooking class when he was 7.

Not happy about him putting things into the oven yet or using the kettle but that will come in time when he is a bit taller and has the advantage of height.

A number of sane people have said it, but I think it's essential to teach your kids to be safe in the kitchen and that includes how to use a kettle a toaster etc. and a a pan. Keeping them out of the kitchen out of fear of accidents at 7,8 etc. won't help them!