7 reasons you should cook with your toddler.

Fact: cooking is a life-long skill. Opinion: starting young on this skill with your kids would be foundational and empowering for their future. However, is it even worth all the effort and may I say drama to involve your child, as young as a toddler in the kitchen?

In this article, my description of a toddler would be 2-3 years old. At this point your young child is probably bustling with energy, confident, clumsy, messy and yet adorable at the same time.

Many parents have shared with me that the thought of having their children, especially toddlers in the kitchen, is the most daunting and overwhelming idea. I can completely relate with you. However, if done safely, your toddler will benefit significantly from the little activities you do with them.

I believe the benefits of involving your toddlers in the kitchen are endless, but let me share with you the top 7 skills that your child can benefit from cooking.

Improve fine motor skills:

Many of your toddler’s daily activities—like getting dressed, eating, and writing—require control of small muscles in the hands. We call these skills fine motor skills. It is absolutely important for toddlers to develop their fine motor skills to help them with their daily tasks in the future. The kitchen provides many opportunities for this development. For example, using a child-appropriate knife to cut their fruits for snack, whisking their pancake batter for breakfast or using a rolling pin to roll out their pizza dough.

Encouraging Independence:

While toddlers are still dependent on their parents, cooking with them gives them a great opportunity to be independent in many ways. Independence itself is a core skill and what better than teaching them to feed themselves at a young age. Since I have started involving my toddler in the kitchen, I have noticed him being more independent! When I tell him, let's make a smoothie, he will rush to the kitchen drawer to reach out for the measuring cups and to the fridge for the milk!

Increase their confidence:

In today’s competitive world, having a high self-esteem really stands out from our peers. While I was a very shy girl in my childhood, over the years, I have learnt the importance of being confident. When we help our toddlers to prepare their own simple meals; buttering their own slice of bread, washing their strawberries, wiping their table after their meals. you will be amazed at how much more they will surprise you with taking new chores in and out of the kitchen. The more we empower our toddlers to do simple tasks themselves, the more they grow in confidence.

Improve their sensory skills:

Toddlers are ‘hands-on’ learners. They learn through seeing, touching, feeling, seeing, hearing and tasting. The kitchen is a haven for letting them explore these sensory skills, with all that ‘messy play’ they are even able to safely lick their fingers and relish all that yummy goodness they created with their own little hands! Just the thought of it makes me stir in excitement.

Help them eat better:

As parents, I am sure we have experienced children who are picky eaters and a lot of us still struggle to find a solution for this. Good news, cooking with your toddlers will help improve their appetite for food and enjoy their meals better. Unlike my daughter, my 2-year old son was a picky eater, he didn’t like vegetables. However, after involving him in the kitchen, he is a lot more open to trying new food and he enjoys eating a lot more, especially the ones he prepares!

Language development:

At this stage, toddlers are still improving their language skills. We need to give them many opportunities to get them talking and increase their vocabulary. Cooking with them will improve their speaking and listening skills immensely.

Increases their EQ:

When we are cooking with our toddlers, without realizing, we are having a hands-on lesson with them; collaborating, patience, taking turns, resilience. All these valuable lessons will help children at such a young age not only learn, but thrive. As a result, they become emotionally-intelligent children. According to Lisa Firestone, Ph.D., “When you teach kids emotional intelligence, how to recognize their feelings, understand where they come from and learn how to deal with them, you teach them the most essential skills for their success in life.”

Cooking activities can be so simple, yet there is so much value in involving our little ones in the kitchen. Overall, I strongly believe cooking with your toddlers is one of the best investments of your time and effort. It takes them a long way to being happy, confident children and eventually successful adults. Thanks for reading and subscribe for more articles like this!