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Original poster

personal responsibility continued------------- are the parents not responsible for anything anymore?????

75 replies

stitch · 07/10/2005 23:14

so parents are not deemed fit to teach their kids about making food anymore???? wasnt it bad enough when parents were declared unfit to teach them about the birds and the bees?

OP posts:
ScarySkribble · 08/10/2005 01:40

I don't think these are the limit of the other kind of skills that children learn. Is that all you did at school? Once at high school I did about 20 subjects for 2 years and specialised on 8 for my 0 grades. All of these subjects were introduced at primary level including cooking.

logic · 08/10/2005 11:30

It does very much worry me that so many children are leaving school being unable to read, write or do basic maths. Not every child is academic, granted, but they should all be able to learn the basics and then go out and buy a cookery book!

LIZS · 08/10/2005 11:43

As part of science ds (7) is learning about diet, nutrition and body/teeth. He is actually eating much better atm as a result of knowing he needs to eat some carbohydrate for example , so if that is potato in that meal (which he doesn't especially enjoy) he'll eat some. he now understands that he needs some food for energy and some for growth so can make a more informed choice which I think is great adn hope it lasts. Think it is sad that cooking in schools, even just for fun, is now so limited but guess that H and S issues lie behind it too.

spidermama · 08/10/2005 11:53

If my kids were at home more and didn't have to spend so much time at school, they'd necessarily be more involved in the preparations and cooking of meals on a daily basis.
Ah well!
I used to love Home Economics at school. Our teacher was Granny Duncan and we made Kedgeree, amongst other things. I still remember much of what she taught me and draw from her teachings in my ever day life. (More so than almost all other subjects).

I truly believe everyone should learn to sew and cook at school. It's far more universally important than so many of the other subjects they're subjected to.

Kathlean · 08/10/2005 12:13

DS (4.5) made and brought home bread rolls from school yesterday.

We were discussing the magic ingredient (yeast) and how it made the bread rise, that it had to have warm water not hot or cold to make it work.

I also added that yeast ate the sugar and gave off gasses a bit like farting (I hope I was right on that bit). You have to make it fun for them as well (-:

Nightynight · 08/10/2005 12:46

they should definitely learn about food at school. How many of us can honestly say that we dont repeat the same dishes over and over again?

and you only have to look at what people are buying in the supermarket to see that most parents are not teaching their children to cook.
Im not saying its their fault - nobodys going to work the whole day, get home and start cooking fabulous new dishes. but as it is, ignorance is being passed down the generations.

doormat · 08/10/2005 13:01

i think they should learn more about food in school, not just how to cook but how it is farmed etc.

Also I think in this modern day and age (I sound like a right old fart here) I think that with working etc, ready meals, conveinince foods it hasnt become a necissity to teach children how to cook.

Also I admit I am at fault, I never taught my 2 eldest how to cook before they left home as I had always prepared their meals from scratch during the day whilst they were at school or out to play.

aloha · 08/10/2005 13:11

But there's nothing new in this is there? I was taught cookery at school (in the 70s). Nobody's saying parents are 'unfit' to teach their kids to cook, anymore than they were when I was at school. I certainly think teaching children to cook is more valuable than what they currently learn in Food Technology lessons.

Nightynight · 08/10/2005 13:15

what do they learn in food technology lessons?

surely cookery is just the practical sessions of food technology?

Nightynight · 08/10/2005 13:16

cookery, domestic science, home economics, food technology....can any other subject have gone through so many name changes?

Original poster
stitch · 08/10/2005 13:18

ds made bread in beavers!
we regularly do things like baking etc. its fun for them, as well as teaching them the skills they need.

OP posts:
Original poster
stitch · 08/10/2005 13:18

ds made bread in beavers!
we regularly do things like baking etc. its fun for them, as well as teaching them the skills they need.

OP posts:
aloha · 08/10/2005 13:19

But stitch not all kids have parents who will do that with them. And it's not their fault if their parents aren't teaching them.

Queenwaterwitch · 08/10/2005 13:58

I've only skimmed this but agree, schools should be teaching children about food and cooking.

tallulah · 08/10/2005 14:03

Nightynight, my boys did food tech (but only for 6 weeks). They made pizza and a few other dishes but most of the course is about designing packages rather than actual cooking of food.

My mother taught me how to bake cakes and make pastry, but school taught me how to plan and cook a roast dinner from scratch, how to marzipan and ice a christmas cake (that we'd first made at school) and a whole host of other things. I use my school cookery books all the time at home because the recipes are quick and easy.

I have taught my kids how to make cakes and biscuits, and ds2 likes to cook the dinner (he is making is way through a cookery book we'd never used and makes a mean gumbo ) but there never seems to be enough time to teach them everything they need to know.

Trouble is, there isn't much time in the school curriculum either.

Nightynight · 08/10/2005 14:57

designing PACKAGES????

would expect stuff about food groups, designing balanced meals, general principals of storing and cooking food.

Tortington · 08/10/2005 16:17

if you want your kid to learn about cooking - then you teach them as the parent.
am really ebing serious when i say that i do not believe its a key skill to survive when they leave school.

knowing maths and english are

i feel the same way about PE - if you think your kid isnt getting enough exercise then for gods sake people take your kid for a walk. most people who are into sports do it after school to do with clubs and centres anyway. they activley seek it out becuase thats what floats their boat

i think art and music should be tought but more emphasis given to english and maths and science.

i think religeon should not be compulsery at option stage in religeous schools.

i mean really if its so important - you cook with them

logic · 08/10/2005 16:24

Something that we absolutely agree on Custy!

happymerryberries · 08/10/2005 16:24

Trouble is tho custy there are loads of parent who can't/wil not cook either. They ones that give the kids a packed lunch of a mars bar, a can of coak and a packet of crisps. the people who think that cooking a meal is throwing something in the microwave....think of the parents in eth Jamie Oliver program who couldn't identify herbs.

I teach nutrition at year 8 and you would be horrified at the 'facts' that the kids 'know'. They all know that Sunny D is 'good for you' (FFS!) but they never eat a bit of fruit. I taught a girl in year 11 (so age 16) would wouldn't touch a raw potato because it was 'gross'.

Almost every child in year 10 that I have shown a kidney disection asks if you can eat it.... never heared of a steak and kidney pie then???

There are kids in our school who can't eat with a knife and forl, let alond cook something! Their parents are doing such a stand up job. And if the parents can't then *someone has to break the cycle of ignorence and deprivation.

Parp!

logic · 08/10/2005 16:32

Tbh, I think that correct spelling is rather important too.

geb · 08/10/2005 16:40

Food tech now is a subject where we are suppose to teach the kids to look in the cupboard and try to develop a healthy meal.

In order to do this we teach the kids about product development, how the food manufacturers come up with the different foods they sell, market research (those ladies you see in the supermarket trying to get you to try food), how to package and store food, make the dish healthy(nutrients are taught), we also have to cover the manufacturing of food now (why they need to know this I do not know).

If I am honest I wish I was teaching good old fashion Home Ec, but if I am honest the kids actually like developing the new dishes. A lot of the problems we have is that when we try to teach the kids how to make sauces the parents send them in with packet sauces. How can you compete with that. Sorry to go on.

happymerryberries · 08/10/2005 16:41

Yer, me too, and typing!

I can spell a bit better than this but the typing puts the finishing touch on it, and I can't be arsed to spell check for MN

happymerryberries · 08/10/2005 16:44

geb, and how can you compete with the thousands of pounds spent on sdvertising of crap like Sunny D? The kids believe it all, because it is on TV.

You will get them for a couple of hours a week...(if that) and the rest of the time they get bombarded with adverts.

And how do you get them to cook stuff that they and their families will not try to eat??? I tip my hat to you, it is a hell of a job that you have to try to turn things around.

logic · 08/10/2005 16:45

giggle hmb. Sorry, you just made me laugh.

logic · 08/10/2005 16:47

Seriously though, I take my hat off to those of you who teach cooking, teach anything actually. I wouldn't have the patience.

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