To think that microwaving a potato

[Roseformeplease]

and putting some cheese on it is hardly a worthwhile Home Economics lesson?

Just that, really. DD made that today in her S1 (year 7) class. We don't have to supply ingredients but what a waste of time.

At home she makes cakes, meringues, quiches etc. Is it any wonder she is choosing Chemistry?

Seriously. My DD follows the odd recipe at home. She does it because we cooked a bit together and we live somewhere fairly remote so we can't easily buy good cakes. But they have already covered so much more than this. I know ALL the children - my DD grew up with them, tiny school. They can all read, all operate a complex phone so a dial on a microwave is hardly difficult. Many of them fend for themselves of an evening. Some even have jobs in cafés and kitchens.

Honestly, I am a teacher and I KNOW these children could microwave a potato. Some are nearly 13 years old. When we have a bake sale they bring in things they have made.

Also, we differentiate in schools now (or are supposed to). You would go nuts if your children were forced to work only at the pace of the weakest or those with least knowledge.

Scones, rock cakes, queen cakes, custard, apple crumble & cauliflower cheese are things I remember having to do.

Since leaving school I have never made scones, rock cakes, queen cakes or apple crumble.

A microwaved jacket potato with beans, cheese and bacon was, however, my 'go-to' Sunday night dinner while I was at uni!

Teaching easy meals is much better than teaching cakes and sweet things.

Oh, and I DID have a book in which I had things like how long to microwave a jacket potato for which my mum helped me compile.

It also had a few more things in like risotto and pasta sauces, various stews and soups and omelettes and stuff, but it was all quite basic. I am now a very good cook, but everyone has to start somewhere.

That's why I suggested delia take this on Whois . Doesn't she have a book that starts with boiling an egg ? Or did I imagine it

Two Delia "courses" start that way, yes. She assumes no knowledge at all.

I seethed at an older lady buying a packet of four baking potatoes who sent it back to be changed because one had "a bit of dirt on" while the queue piled up at the checkout.

DH chose this moment to ask DS about where potatoes come from:

"That's right, DS - only three years old and you know that they grow in the ground, and you wash the dirt off and it is fine"

It was his finest passive aggressive moment.

Passive aggressive ... I am only just hearing this phrase since on mn . Is it a new thing ?

I wasn't suggesting it was a mumsnet thing , I was asking if it was . So is it a common phrase then ? How have I missed that one for 41 years ...

Recently I know of an occasion when an 18 yr old set their microwave on fire. On a friends advice they put a potato in for 30 mins and then fell asleep. The block of flats were evacuated for this event. This person has had very little support of any form.

Wouldn't be lovely if everyone had really good parnents who make cakes and meringues with them.

Perhaps there should be segregated classes, one for experts, one for average and then ....l.

God this thread has boiled my piss.

It has touched on so many things I dislike about mumsnet (don't get me wrong there are some great things too)

Competitive parenting (my eight year old can knock up a soufflé, that's nothing my six year old can do a three bird roast whilst reciting the Iliad )

Food as a marker of class difference (snotty comments about cooking in a microwave)

A lack of understanding that not everyone enjoys the same level of privilege (extensive ingredients to make elaborate deserts or cakes could swallow up a good portion of a family's food budget and won't feed them.

I am waiting for someone to have a fit of the vapours about the kids eating cheese, claiming it is a terrible example to set and this fat laden poison is going to make them all obese or give them eating disorders to shout 'bingo'

my six year old can do a three bird roast whilst reciting the Iliad

There was a complain about the dish being simply carb (potato) and fat (cheese) earlier, compos. You can probably call bingo.

Perfectly valid life skill I think. Old flat mate microwaved a potato for 30 minutes and set the flat on fire... He could have done with that lesson!

Silver daisy.... This seems a common occurrence!

if she is only in 1st year then it is basic cooking isnt it ddo has done home ecconomics from 1st to 5th year and yes some of the things she has made in the early years are a bit meh but come on not all children bake and cook at home it is about making simple meals really and if one child can stick a tattie in the microwave and feed themselves then that has to be a good thing

Also, when I first left home, all I had was a microwave, a teaspoon and a fiver. I cooked bacon in it and all sorts!

We were 'taught' to make a cup-a-soup at school. I kid you not.

My first cookery lesson at school was tea, boiled egg and buttered soldiers. They taught me how to follow a recipe and make basic meals. I think that was the right approach.

exactly grennie

But Horris, I couldn't make tea when I moved out at 17! Mum did everything! Some people need the basics

I think that home economics should be taught as a mandatory lesson like PE. It's a vital life skill that everyone should have.

That said it should be teaching food groups and 'proper' cooking skills (peeling, chopping and basic kitchen skills etc etc) not just how to nuke a spud or put cans of fruit in a bowl.

Most eleven year olds are capable of doing more than prick a spud and press a button given the right input.

We used to have to write out the ingredients and a 'method' in our exercise books (having had a demonstration during the lesson) so we could do it ourselves the next week.

I still have the wrapping paper covered exercise book which DS1 (14) thinks is most amusing