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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wonder if anyone really enjoys baking with their children?

88 replies

Twiceover · 30/05/2013 11:23

I've made fairy cakes with DTs (nearly 4) this morning. In my head it's going to be a lovely activity where we chat whilst gaily measuring out ingredients and mixing them together. In reality, they argue over who's going to crack the eggs first, who's going to put which ingredients in the bowl, who's going to put which sprinkles on. I have to stop them eating all the mixture before I can get it in the cake tray. While the cakes are cooking they ask if they're ready yet approx every 30 seconds. Aaargh! They do enjoy it though and they're always very proud of the finished, sprinkle-crammed product.

OP posts:

SoftSheen · 30/05/2013 13:35

I take DD (2.3) to Cookie Tots classes

kiddycook.co.uk/cookie-tots

We arrive, cook something that I wouldn't have thought of cooking with her (spring rolls, stuffed mushrooms etc) then get to take the food home whilst leaving the mess. Perfect!

LEMisdisappointed · 30/05/2013 13:38

Cookie tots classes?? WTF next!!!

JenaiMorris · 30/05/2013 13:43

Lol, LEM.

I know the point of these things really is to get out of the house but most of them have I Saw You Coming written all over them.

I do like the idea of sending ds to proper cooking classes, because I just get irritable when I try and teach him because he does it all wrong (ie not my way).

It's as well to leave himm with a cook book though, probably.

AlexReidsLonelyBraincell · 30/05/2013 13:46

I always let them at the cake mixing bowl and spoon.

Eggs are lion stamped against salmonella aren't they? Is it really so bad? They have had fresh chocolate mousse with raw egg before now too.

littlefishexpat · 30/05/2013 13:55

I do! I do!

Baking has been our go-to rainy day activity since my son was old enough to sit on the counter next to the bowl and stir. This did not help me shift my baby weight very quickly though.

We love it so much we actually have baking parties every 1/2 term or school holiday. Yesterday we had 6 little eight year olds helping with the rolling and cutting out of sugar cookies, then painting and frosting them for decoration. Of course it's messy but messes clean and the children have a great time.

I'm with artichook though -- I'll bake from sun up to sun down but do not ask me to imagine anything!

BreastmilkDoesAFabLatte · 30/05/2013 14:06

I enjoy baking with them. My failsafe guarantee for enjoyment of the activity is having DH hovering in the background with a selection of cleaning implements. He can't bear leaving mess in the kitchen for even a second and is far tidier than me, so I always make sure he's around to help

FunnysInLaJardin · 30/05/2013 14:10

I hate baking with the children and in fact have never baked with DS2. The last time was about 4 years ago with DS1. That whole lifestyle yummy mummy baking stuff with her yummy children. Never happens in my household, its just a big old mess with me getting stressed about the flour all over the floor.

Fakebook · 30/05/2013 14:16

I enjoy it until dd starts trying to mix everything and lick everything. I have to say she breaks eggs really well though. She's only put in a shell once or twice in her 2 years of baking. I normally let her freestyle in the decorating part. I put down a massive tray and let her go mad.

5madthings · 30/05/2013 14:17

ha ha yes in theory i think lets do baking it will be fun, the reality is quite different with five kids and a tiny kitchen...

my elder two can do baking and coooking on their own now (13 and 10yrs) and i try and get them.involved in regular meal prep and not just baking.

i will make a batch of cookie mix etc and then get them round dining rm table to cut out the cookies or decorate cakes etc and try not to stress at the mess!

i also ttok my toddler to a cooking class thing it was free at childrens centre and great cos they got linch and you didnt have to wash up/have mess in own home.

5madthings · 30/05/2013 14:19

oh and we always eat the mix with raw eggs, thats the best bit!

i just buy good quality lion stamped free range eggs. the imp thing with eggs is to wash your hands after handling the egg shells more likely to be germs etc on that bit, the raw egg itself is fine.

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/05/2013 14:21

No, I hated it. I hate baking anyway. And I dislike the mess made. So I very seldom did it. I used to like having her help cook though, but she made herself useful with that.

FunnysInLaJardin · 30/05/2013 14:23

GetOrf I think that's my issue, I don't like baking full stop. It's just all a bit pointless. I love cooking and cook dinner every night, just not baking.

thebody · 30/05/2013 14:27

Bloody amateurs the lot of you!!

Try making freakin pancakes with reception class!!

The snot, bottom picking and my turn my turn, the risk assessment and the fear of burns, scalds and unsuspected allergic reactions!!!!

That's hard.

TheBigJessie · 30/05/2013 14:34

Wow. I feel ashamed. After the last go, I'm putting baking off until the boys are five. Possibly 6! It's the over-enthusiastic stirring that does it for me!

silverten · 30/05/2013 14:41

Just do pastry instead. In the food processor- they can help you with the weighing and do the buttons. Piece of piss, very little mess.

Never mind all this 'lets chuck the food about"- that only happens in films and is clearly the idea of someone who doesn't ever do the shopping or cleaning. Likewise if kids are going to be taught to cook this means learning to weigh things out because there are plenty of things that just don't work unless you do them properly.

Then you make a pie (cheese and onion is dead easy) and let them do jam tarts with the leftovers. Doesn't really matter if the pastry is overworked, with enough jam they'll eat them anyway. And that's quite enough excitement for one session on the average child's attention span, plus you've actually made something edible to have for dinner.

starfishmummy · 30/05/2013 14:44

Ds and Snare baking this afternoon. He is disabled and has sn so this means that I will end up getting everything out, I will probably do most of the mixing and then I will do most (all) of the clearing up. He probably won't even eat one!

starfishmummy · 30/05/2013 14:45

Ds and I

thecakeisalie · 30/05/2013 14:47

I totally get what you mean the fighting over the electric whisk, licking the bowl, spooning into tins, the crazy amount of mess and so on drives me a little insane - having said that we bake probably every other day and usually something different each time. They are 4 & 2 so there's a fair amount of interference guidance from me when we bake but they absolutely love it. I'm far from domestic goddess territory but we generally have some baked goodies in the house and fresh bread everyday (thanks to my fab bread machine!). So yeah sorry were in the 'enjoys baking with kids' category!

bigkidsdidit · 30/05/2013 14:49

I enjoy it, but I look on it as an activity to pass the time, not so much to achieve anything. Same as painting. If the cake is inedible then so what. I do it when the floor is dirty already too so I would have mopped anyway.

JenaiMorris · 30/05/2013 14:54

Another one here who can't stand baking. I can just about handle those packets of cake mix that you put in the bread maker and I might make a lemon drizzle cake every now and then because that's something that is worth making rather than buying.

I once forgot to put the butter in one though.

I can happily potter about making sauces and casseroles and roasts and pretty much anything, but baking I leave to ds.

theroseofwait · 30/05/2013 14:58

I do it but as I can bake with 20 odd kids for up to 5 hours a day my own two are nothing!

I just put one layer of greaseproof paper down on the Ikea child size table and another underneath, they do an all in one method, I pop them in the oven, cool, we spoon on icing, add sprinkles and job done. Paper goes in the bin, bowls in the dishwasher and mummy's a hero!

That said I did once reduce my elder DS (4) to tears because I shouted at him for licking the spoon. My mum and MIL let them both do it but for me as a Food Tech teacher it's a big no-no, I must learn to ease up a bit at home!

JenaiMorris · 30/05/2013 15:05

How, therose ? How can you cope with so many children, all cooking, in a kitchen?

How do you not beat any of them with a rolling pin?

(ds loves Food Tech btw)

TeWiSavesTheDay · 30/05/2013 15:08

I enjoy it with ky 4yo (sort of) but the stress is my 1yo trying to join in! Pouring flour everywhere, eating all the pre-measured raisins. It's like trying to present a children's tv show in the middle of a hurricane.

And yes I let them lick the spoons.

PourquoiPas · 30/05/2013 15:08

I love it. I think the more you do it, the easier it gets as you get little ways of making it work better and the DC know what they are and aren't allowed to do. It helps if you set out what you expect from them first as well. It is harder with more children but I've made cakes with 3 2 year olds a few times and it was fine.

It's tricks like getting them to crack eggs into a cup first rather than into the bowl have to make DH do that too and using a big high sided bowl for stirring so its more likely to stay in the bowl. DS loves the I can cook! series, and there's lots of ideas on how to let children do cooking themselves, things like chopping things with scissors inside a cup which I would never have thought of myself.

DS (3) taught my sister how to make meringues the other day, she was gobsmacked! He can also make an omelette (with lots of supervision using the cooker obviously), chop veg, make scones and cut them out, check if pasta is done etc etc.

PrincessTeacake · 30/05/2013 15:24

I adore baking with my mindees, so much so that when we have their friends over for playdates we usually feck about in the kitchen baking for an hour. I pre measure all the ingredients and let them put it in in spoonfuls, I get them to break up the chocolate and biscuits for chocolate biscut cake with toy hammers and I give them blobs of cookie dough tosculpt with while I get ghe real ones into the oven.

The other day we made cloud shaped cookies with sugarpaste topping, I had them draw on the sugarpaste with edible markers. They've been talking about it ever since.

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