I read an article about a lady that was dying of cancer. She wanted to find ways to help her family after she was gone, so one thing she did was to teach each of her kids to make one meal. I think she had 5 kids, so she figured they would at least be able to make these 5 meals. I found this incredibly sad, but I liked the idea of teaching kids to make a specific meal. While the kids have always helped some in the kitchen, I wanted to pick meals for each of them that they would always be responsible for helping me with, so they could learn how to make something from start to finish.
We've just started this, and it is working out very well. Rachel has picked the family favorite of Parmesan Chicken. She even made some (almost on her own) for our neighbor that just had a baby. Matthew helped make spaghetti last night - and only Matthew, which led to some frustrations because everyone wanted to help. But, the beauty of it is that one kid gets that special role at a time.
So, tonight, it was Zack's turn. We had a simple dinner of pancakes and sausage links. Despite the flour all over my newly-cleaned kitchen floor and the egg shells I had to pick out, I let Zack do most of the work. I even let go enough to let him pour the batter on the griddle. It was hard because I'm surprisingly a little bit of a Nervous Nelly. He loved it and did such a great job.
After soccer, we came back to cook the remaining batter for frozen pancakes. Alex and Rachel really wanted to help this time, so I let them take it on themselves. I had to look away a little and let my desires to control the situation go, but once I did, it was like a light bulb went on. They happily cooked pancakes for 30 minutes while I cleaned up, read with Zack, put Matthew to bed. I really saw the beauty
of this new plan. I think we might be having pancakes for breakfast every night!
The new (and improved?) Naked Chef
At least by this point, I had made him put something else on besides his underwear that he was wearing to bed.
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