It’s important to me that the girls grow up to be capable, self-sufficient women.
In my opinion, you don’t do your children any favours by mollycoddling them, which is why – at five and seven years old – they prepare their own cereal in the morning, get themselves ready for school (with overseeing from me) and wash and condition their own hair during bathtime.
But there’s one area where I find it difficult to relinquish control, and that’s the kitchen. You might wonder if that’s because it’s my domain, a place where I create delicious and magical dishes. No. Not even close; I can barely rustle up an edible meal.
I’d love to be one of those Mums who gets the kids involved in the baking of muffins and the icing of cakes – you know, the kind that has matching Cath Kidston aprons for each family member – but the reality is, I just can’t bear the cleaning up exercise afterwards.
I know, I know – it’s a rubbish excuse. In fact, while we’re coming clean (no pun intended) I’ll hold my hands up, and admit to spouting out all five of those ‘Rules for Cooking with Kids’ in this video, which is based around the findings from the recent Ikea Life At Home report. But, hearing them repeated back has made me realise I sound just like a… boring grown up *shudders*.
It’s time to put some heat back in the kitchen (pun intended), loosen up a bit, and have some fun. So what if there’s some flour to sweep up, or a few extra dishes to wash? I reckon it’s a worthwhile trade for more quality time with the girls, PLUS we get to eat what we bake… it’s a win/win!
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I used to bake loads with my children and I attended a 6 week cookery course with them all too which we loved but over the past year we seem to have been so busy we have forgotten about all of that. We need to get back in the kitchen, I love doing baking with them and I need a bit of inspiration to do more cooking as I’m not a lover of cooking meals. Cakes are sooooo much more fun 😉