I wrote last week that I planned to get the kids more involved in the kitchen. My hope is to not only have a fun, together activity, but to try and broaden their food choices (my son is on a strict, self-induced chicken nuggets, French fries, eggs and hot dog diet, with the sometimes piece of pizza and baked chicken). So while at the store this weekend, I picked up a mound of pizza dough, ready to be rolled out and topped with cheese and other favorites.

I was so excited Saturday night as we got the pizzas ready. There was flour everywhere, but I didn’t care. My daughter, 3, had it on her knees, her dress, her face. My son poured pizza sauce on the pies, and the kitchen island. Then they put cheese and pepperoni on their pizza and cheese, tomatoes and basil on mine.

Patiently, well, not really, they waited. And then I put the pieces on their plates in front of them.

And they promptly picked the pieces apart and ate sauce on baked pizza crust. Well, part of my evening plan worked!

Last night my kids and I got home and I ran upstairs to put away a bit of laundry before preparing dinner. My 6-year-old son was hungry and hollared up at me, “Mom, I made dinner.” I stopped everything I was doing and ran downstairs. Sure enough, he had frozen hash brown patties in the toaster oven and had attempted to turn it on. He got two of the three settings right, so it wasn’t actually heating up. Thankfully. I praised his efforts to make dinner, corrected his settings (and showed him how) and made sure to stress he did a good job, but to next time let me know first.

Then the fun began. “I want to cook,” both kids commented. I had planned homemade mac n’ cheese so I thought, Why not? I can’t remember the last time I had them help prepare dinner. It was so much fun. The kids stirred in the eggs, the cheese, the milk and put on the bread crumbs. Then my son looked in the refrigerator and pulled out ingredients for pigs in a blanket. He showed his 3-year-old sister how to make them and we all put them in the oven.

When my husband got home, the kids could not be more excited and more proud. They were having a blast and so was I. This morning, I came downstairs to find my son had set the table and asked if he could help cook again. I am so excited! I have learned a valuable lesson - to include them more often.

I took my children - 3 and 6 - shoe shopping the other night. Both had near meltdowns by the time we were leaving - shoeless. It’s my fault. Read the rest of this entry »