When I was first introduced to Raddish, my children and I fell in love with their thoughtful and beautifully designed cooking kits (mailed right to my door) that helped us cook together. We’ve worked through a handful of “cooking with kids” books, and I and wasn’t sure how this would stack up to the experience of simply borrowing a book from the library. I mean, it wasn’t like they were sending us the food!
However, I was pleasantly surprised at not only the high quality of the content, but how engaging it was to not just my six-year old, but to me as well!
We opened the box and first discovered the apron and chef’s hat! Looking the part goes a long way towards building a master chef, believe me! The theme of our box was France, and it came with an iron-on badge that could be attached to the apron, Girl Scout-style, once the cooking was done. Nice touch!
Thoroughly motivated to tackle French cooking, Miss Six looked over the recipes for crepes, ratatouille, and steak with frites. She decided that we’d save the crepes for breakfast and would tackle a 3-course meal of ratatouille, oven-baked fries (that were seriously the best homemade fries ever), and steak!
Let me start by saying, in full confession mode, that I was a vegetarian for about ten years and have NEVER in my life made a steak. Truly. So this is where the learning comes in for me, too!
We went to the market with our shopping list in hand (conveniently organized and provided by Raddish), and came home for a full afternoon of connecting over food.
As you can see, the recipe cards are fully illustrated for non-readers on coated paper that can literally stand up, and also figuratively stand up to kitchen splatters. One of the fun perks was the “Speak like a French chef” card that taught us French cooking phrases such as a la mode and mis en place. Like I said, we were all learning!
Finally, a few hours later, we had a full meal, complete with hand-molded chive butter, that she (er, we) proudly served to the grandparents. The meal was DELICIOUS, and one that we will make again, for sure.
Thanks, Raddish, for such a meaningful family cooking experience! I’m a lifelong fan.
A question for you: What is the biggest challenge you face with cooking with kids?
Cracking eggs 😉
My biggest challenge is safety! I am always worried the kids will either burn themselves or chop a finger!
Time is my biggest challenge… I want to make more time to cook with my kids! It’s fun and a life skill! 🙂
My biggest challenge is multitasking. I’m no good at following my recipes while assisting three little assistants!
Safety and organization with two little pairs of helping hands!
My lack of paciance
Time, safety, patience and keeping my kids interested!
I find that trying to empower my 2 and 4 year old girls to help cook is a challenge with both safety and maneuvering through tantrums (sharing). It is such a challenge with an already stressful task( I’ve never enjoyed cooking :() that it takes a lot of energy and patience. Yet the reward of them having ownership of the meal and usually eat better makes it worth it.
Finding appropriate tasks for the small one so he feels like he’s really helping!
Trying to have something for my daughter to do while I am doing the cutting. She is just as patient as me. 😉
When to cook dessert – before dinner (they can’t wait for after dinner to eat it) vs after dinner (not enough time + I don’t want to clean up twice)
the mess makes me see work and not play or learning. i need to relax and teach them to clean up too:)
The ick factor. My three year old sneezed in our batter!
Time seems to be the issue that amplifies all others. Smalls are naturally slower, so cooking under pressure is problematic for everyone. Time pressure makes supervising chopping (6 and 3) and peeling stressful (I bought a child’s peeler in Paris that has a hole for the index finger that takes one digit out of the slicing equation). We don’t have a platform high enough for them at the stove. Neither likes to stir on the stove because it’s hot and they worry (rightfully) about burning themselves. Allowing for extra time mitigates these issues for me (maybe I do all the stirring or hold the pot an extra 5 minutes so they can stir).
We have a learning tower for our almost 3 year old to help in the kitchen. Our biggest challenges are keeping her safe with sharp knives and the hot stove. Additionally, she often quickly loses interest or wants to sample all of the ingredients and then isn’t hungry by the time dinner is ready.
My biggest challenge in cooking with my kids is inspiring them to cook anything other than desserts!
Both safety and keeping them interested are my challenges. I suspect that being more organized ahead of time would help greatly, but that is also a challenge. 🙂
Finding easy, fun recipes for my daughter to make with me.
She is so excited to cook. But she doesn’t want to make pancakes or sandwiches anymore.
My biggest challenge is trying to balance the interests of both my kids in the kitchen. My four year old son loves to help and wants to hands on stuff like stir, whisk eggs, measure ingredients, etc. But my one year old also wants to be involved but she obviously can’t do much yet so I end up holding her and then I’m cooking one-handed with two kids….not pretty!
Being patient and keeping the kids interested!
Biggest challenge is cleaning up the mess
My biggest challenge is fear that we will loose a little finger in the chopping process. I try not to let this hold us back from using knives, but yikes!, it is sometimes a close call.
My biggest challenge is having enough patience, for the extra time it takes.
Attention! The energy is high at the start but managing the multiple moving parts especially with cooking is always my biggest challenge. I do get a good laugh when at the end of the day I realize I’ve been walking around with flour on my nose 🙂
My biggest challenge is that my seven year old son wants to use our 10″ chef’s knife to cut carrots.
In terms of cooking with children at school, we find the most difficult element is having access to child friendly appliances and cooking means. We have an oven, but a stove is a hard sell in a small kitchen area. We can use crock pots or tabletop burners, but the solidity of an actual stovetop would help with more advanced projects.
My biggest challenges are dealing with the mess and having enough space for everyone to work comfortably.
My biggest challenge is finding enough things for my almost 4 – year-old to do when it seems like most of the work involves chopping. (Second place: She wants to eat half the ingredients before they make it into the pan!)
Patience.Safety.
Just one challenge? No way. 1. Making the extra time. Cooking used to be a leisurely past time but with two kids in tow it’s a means to an end. 2. Messes. Nuf said.
Dealing with food allergies! The easiest things to cook, my little chef is allergic to!
My biggest challenge has been multi-tasking. Trying to read a recipe, get together ingredients & measuring spoons, pre-heat, etc all with the added help of a 3 yo!! I’ve learned to do significant prep and gathering items FIRST, so I can focus on those tasks that are kid-appropriate.
I am a Pre-K teacher and cook with my class once a week. My biggest challenge is finding
no heat recipes that can be done in a classroom setting. My children look forward to their weekly cooking class.
Taking turns is our biggest challenge!
Our biggest challenge is probably that the 2 year old wants to do everything that the 6 year old does, but doesn’t really have the coordination for it. 🙂 It’s still fun cooking with them, though – they love it!
Keeping hands clean and not getting too caught up in their excitement!
My perfectionism. It is sooohard for me to let go and let them do it
The extra time and the mess! It’s always a bigger mess when cooking with kids.
Their lack of fine motor skills because of their age.
With four kids helping me in the kitchen, I feel more like a referee than a cook!
My biggest challenge is trying to be patient and focused while two small sets of hands knock things over, spill ingredients and fight over who gets to stir.
Making time for us to cook together and figuring out what things my son can do successfully with an acceptable amount of risk involved.
I find it so difficult to let them do the task themselves, at their pace and level, mess and all.
My biggest challenge is to get my girls to try new things. All the conventional advice to let them pick things, have repeated exposures, grow things, and cook things doesn’t work for my kids.
My almost four year old can safely chop and isn’t afraid of our gas stovetop, but once she completes the cooking simply serves it up to her father and I. My almost six year old grew zucchini and peas on her own this summer and literally gagged when she was asked to eat them.
Keeping my 2.5 year old from wanting to eat everything before it’s been cooked! She doesn’t quite understand the concept of bacteria yet. That and supervising her cooking while also holding my 5 month old:)
My biggest challenge is trying to remember all the ingredients while managing the 2.5 yr and 5.yr old “helpers”… I’ve been known to miss some vital ones before 😀
I love cooking with my 6 year old but I’m always unsure about how to keep her safe (burner, knives etc) without hindering her learning or enjoyment if cooking!
My biggest challenge is keeping the 5 year old safe and engaged while also keeping the 2 year old from dumping out all the ingredients, tasting things that shouldn’t be eaten, jumping off the chairs, etc.
Cleaning up afterwards! Everyone is about the cooking….and eating, but only mom is worried about the mess:)
My challenges involve expanding the time it takes to cook a meal with kids (which I suppose really means my patience needs improvement…), and finding age-appropriate tasks they can complete independently to feel successful, particularly when I have multiple ages, and the little ones want to do the same thing as the big kids.
Love the name! What fun.
The waiting part is tough – my kids want what we prepared to be ready to eat right away and its hard for them to be patient through the baking and cooling time!
Biggest Challenge: lack of knowledge- I am Italian. In the past, the children (especially female) of the family would spend years learning to cook alongside the mother and grandmother of the family. Unfortunately my grandparents both passed away when my mother was quite young. I am now the second generation that has never learned any family recipies or really HOW to cook. Attempting to spend time with my daughter in the kitchen has always been stressful because well, I am already nervous about what I am doing! With Raddish, I am excited to have an organized program with recipes so that I may learn as we go as well.
My 3 year old daughter likes to help out in the kitchen but would like to do more than just mix batter, etc. I’m slowly teaching her how to cut/chop foods by using a butter knife on tofu or bananas but I can’t look away for long if I want her to learn safe habits when using sharp knives. Soooo, it is always really hard to know how to keep her interested while I am completing more complex preparation steps that she isn’t ready for.
My biggest challenge in cooking with my kids is trying to keep my two year old busy while I teach my four year old things like cracking eggs and how to use a whisk. Someday my girls will be cooking together – but not yet!
The biggest challenge as far as cooking with kids is finding enough tasks to hold his attention and that aren’t beyond his level. My son is almost two and it can be difficult sometimes.
Two of my three kids are gluten free so I have to trust all of my substitutions in cooking. It makes cooking hard for the kids to do.
Finding enough for her to do to keep her interest.
My biggest challenge is time. The kids tend to want to help when I have the least amount of time! Then when I plan something for us to cook together, they are distracted by something else! D’oh!
Actually, the clean up afterward is the biggest issue! Trying to get the 2 sisters to take turns @ clearing and doing dishes (by hand–no dishwasher) is the challenge here!
Safety, cleanup, and patience (letting them have as much time as they need to complete a task)
My biggest challenge in cooking with my 2-year-old is finding activities she can help with without making a HUGE mess!
Younger sibling! Currently he is 9 months old. The 4 year old can feel like the baby “ruins” everything!
Not taking over! Letting the kids do more, even if not correct (half cup over/under– no biggie, right?).
Getting him to turn the mixer onto the slow speed to avoid flour going every where. And convincing him to eat the healthy stuff we make, not just the baked goods.
Finding tasks that are simple enough for him to do while not be boringly easy, therefore chasing him away.
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