This week, My Toddler who recently turned 6 (I still can’t believe how fast that time went) helped me to prepare dinner by chopping the vegetables. She chopped carrot and cucumber. I was looking at the header for this blog shortly afterwards, and noticed her little chubby 3 year old hands chopping away with her plastic blue baby cutlery knife 3 years ago…. and began reminiscing on how she had got to where she has. I’ve heard the term “be careful what you wish for”. Yes, by introducing your child to the kitchen and creating an interest in food preparation (and hopefully eating), you can be requested to help out and play sous chef at any point in the day….. especially just after you’ve cleaned the kitchen top to toe. You can be asked to assist bake a cake using “The Toddler/Child’s recipe…. and stand by watching and knowing it’s not going to turn out like that perfect red velvet cake you iced last week. It’s at times like this, you just have to remind yourself of the bigger picture. Last week when MT cut the vegetables with a sharp but safe and very supervised knife, I remembered all these times and was happy that I had allowed her that independence. As I look now at the photo I took this week, I observe her skills, the strong motor control she uses and the confidence and independence she displays, how she holds her fingers away from the knifes track and how she feels that she has accomplished something by graduating to this “sharp” knife!

This post is a good one to read if you are thinking of going on the journey of learning in the kitchen with your little one. Start as early as you can. We have recently added our 18 week old sous chef to the team and she has already shown a keen interest holding a spoon and rolling pin! dying to see her develop as time goes by…. but definitely in no hurry, as I know how fast time goes from first time around.

Before you go take a look at that picture on the blogs header….