Strawberry Day Part 2: Kids with Knives

I thought about writing something like “10 Easy Steps to Making Jam with Young Children”, but that would be a lie. Kids cooking in the kitchen is not easy. It takes patience, and remembering your yoga breath is helpful. But if it were easy, everyone would do it. AmIright?

Nice, but not real.

If there were 10 Easy Steps, the first would be to adjust your expectations. As in, “As long as there are no trips to the ER and we don’t have to call the fire department, it’s a success.” This isn't about the perfect batch of jam, folks. It’s about the process.

The second tip, which I assure you will not show up in any Cooking for Kids! cookbook, is to keep your children up late in the nights before your day of jam-making. 

This way they are used to sleeping in. On the day of, you get up early and have your first batch of jam finished by the time they come yawning out of their bedrooms. Later, when you are getting frustrated by your lack of progress, you can remind yourself “Hey, I already have a finished batch. This is EXTRA.”

First batch-- DONE.

Also, they will see the jam when they wake up and get a taste (literally) of the fun that is about to happen. Trust me, they will want to help make more.

And be flexible. Just about the time you want to pull your hair out because of their  s l o w n e s s, they will get bored and want to go play with the dog. Let them go. You will all be glad, and your kids will come back after burning off some steam.

All joking aside, we have a steadfast No Tomfoolery rule in our kitchen. 

Hot stoves and bubbling sugar do not mix well with little faces that are at eye level with the stuff. Playing tag in the kitchen gets you kicked outside.

 For a true adventure, hand your child a big knife:

Deep breaths, Becky

 Then follow it up with something less challenging (for her and your nerves), like mashing fruit, to keep up her confidence.

And without them even knowing they are getting a science lesson, you can explain the physics behind creating a vacuum when doing this:

Not USDA approved. More on that later.

And to really make a memory out of strawberry day, nothing beats Strawberry Pie. My kids insist on it every year. The best part is that you have to do it in stages ahead of time in order for everything to cool properly. It’s the perfect kid-friendly thing to make.  And really, who needs a Cuisinart when you have small humans thrilled about pounding on plastic bags of graham crackers with wooden spoons?

The perfect end to Strawberry Day

All in all the best way to teach kids to cook is to start them young, little bits at a time. When they are very young it will slow you down (not always a bad thing, to tell the truth).

But if you’re lucky, by the time they’re 10 or so they will surprise you by actually helping, like my daughter did this year. Without being asked, she jumped right in to help jar up the last batch of jam. Her extra pair of hands surprised me and warmed my heart.

What are you favorite memories of cooking as a child?