Letting DD cook a meal once a week?

[mumtoateen]

DD(15) studies food tech GCSE and loves cooking, she's bought up the idea before, but just wondering, should I let her?

But in 3 yrs, if she goes to university, she'll be cooking 7 days a week - I can't see that doing something she presumably enjoys (as has chosen it as an option) twice a week is a bad thing - surely it is practice - homework if you like.
The fact she's asked presumably means she wants to - I really can't see any reason anyone would think not to let her.

My 15 yr old dd has chosen music as one of her GCSE options - she plays her instruments several times a day (and bakes, and cooks at least one, but more usually two family meals a week).

what's your reason for not letting her?

My kitchen! She's messy, she admits it and we all know it. She also can take 3-4 hours to cook, so it would mean no one in the kitchen from 2 onwards (She likes to be alone). it can then take her an hour to clean up as well.

Well she's only going to learn to speed up if she has to do it regularly and has to clean up after.

She does it fast. In school. When she has a time limit. But at home, she takes her time. And a lot of it.

The mess and slow cooking is frustrating, but it's a small price to pay for raising a child who can look after herself.

You dont have to search long on MN to find threads full of people/dps who can't boil an egg as a result of never learning. Id take mess any day per having a dd having to live of take aways :)

She can cook for sure! 20/20 on her recent CA for the cooking part of her GCSE

yes, let her.

My two DSs each cook a meal a week. In theory anyway, in reality it's 3 weeks out of 4. They are 13 and 10, as boys I sort of feel it is my responsibility to society to teach them how to cook so they are equipped for later life without relying on anyone else.

Obviously the ten year old has a lot of supervision but he actually does it all.

I sympathise about the mess though!

I think that's all part of the learning curve - it takes practice to work out which meals are ones to save for when you have 3 hrs prep time, and which ones are best for a weekday night. Or, come to think of it, which ones you can spend hours over on a Monday night, which then only need warming through on the Tues - or all the pre is done and you can just slam in the slow cooker on the next morning, or whatever.

Same with the mess - when they started, my kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it, but that's no reason to stop them doing it, you let them cook at first, appreciate it, (flatter, flatter, praise, praise, encourage) then start making suggestions about how much work it is to clear up after a meal if they do x/y/z as they go along. At first, all the concentration is needed for the cooking, but then you train them to lay the table / swill out the pans / empty or load the dishwasher, etc as you go along, as an improvement to the original skill.

Enjoy ! [Smile]

Let her?!

I have just informed both my 15 and 17 year old ds's that I will be letting' them do exactly this over the summer holidays. Neither thought it was a great idea.

I also told them there was a budget of £5 per meal plus household store cupboard ingredients. They were fairly horrified at that. (DS2 had extravagant plans of luxury 5 course meals while ds1 had the phone number of Pizza Dominos at the ready.) Budgeting will be a useful learning experience too. as will eating nothing but chocolate and regretting it

She's a good girl. Let her and thank her!

I was 13 and could cook a full roast dinner. Stood me in good stead for when I left home. I was popular at uni on a sunday lol

Absolutely, my DH does not cook anything, has no interest, my DS and DD are going to have one designated night each per week to cook, my Aunt did this with her 3 boys and they are all now wonderful cooks!

Yes. My 16 and 15 year olds have had to cook one family meal per week each since age 13
The youngest is 11 and he is just starting to cook.
The mess...ok yes it's not fun. But it's a life skill. So is washing up :)

I wouldn't care if it took her an hour to clean up, at least she's offering to do it.

Can you direct her towards meals that bake in the oven, so she's not stirring pans for hours and can start on the clearing up whilst it's in the oven

one of my 13, almost 14yr olds cooks regularly on his own but he does wantbto be a chef, the other cooks very occasionally with assistance from me.