My Son’s Future Wife Will Thank Me
Speaking of food, I think one of the most important skills you can teach your child is how to cook for themselves.
When your kid is finally able to move out of the house, is it your wish that they subsist solely on EasyMac and frozen burritos? And when they really feel like living it up, some bagel bites?
If not, then you have to bring them into the kitchen. Make no mistake, it is messy. Flour will be spilled all over the counters and the floor. Eggshell pieces will undoubtedly fall into the bowl due to overenthusiastic cracking, necessitating patience and a spoon to fish them out. Not that anything like that has happened in my kitchen. Nope, nosirree. However, a little bird told me that the key thing to do when something along those lines occurs is to purposely add something crunchy to the recipe. But I personally have no firsthand knowledge of this.
Bringing children into the kitchen means they need to be protected from themselves, and the most efficient way to do this is with an apron.
Aren’t these adorable? You can’t tell from the picture, but they also have pockets on the front.
And even if your kitchen doesn’t quite escape from the destruction, at least your kids will have an apron-shaped area of cleanliness on their bodies.
That little girl looks like mine did at that age! Now at 18, she loves to bake especially but also likes to make homemade soup and bread. Ironically though, she just requested we bring her Easy-Mac for her dorm room when we go visit her later this week!
Too cute!! I have been thinking that we need more aprons in my house. I am tired of getting my clothing messy when I bake and the kids love to help too which only adds to the mess.
Okay, I never wear an apron when I cook, but I covet an adult-sized version of the cake apron. Too cute. Also, I love that the ‘boy’ version comes in cool airplanes. That was a good thought on the part of the designers.
The boys’ version looks like it’s the kind of print that used to be in sleeping bags. I love it!
One thing to beware of with kids’s cookbooks is they tend towards recipes that kids like to eat…which means a lot of baked goods with happy faces on top. I had one when I was a kid, which means that to this day I can make fortune cookies from memory but have to look up how to cook pot roast.
Liz- Well, college kids gotta have EasyMac some of the time, just not all of the time!
AM- I actually own the boy one pictured here, and Mr. P adores it!
Twistie- It is hard to find cute aprons. They tend to be either very plain or TOO cute, if you know what I mean.
Rain- Why am I not suprised, missy, that you don’t like cupcakes? Actually, I am not a mom who does smiley faces, so I think we’re safe on that one.
You are so right! My mom failed at this with my brother and when he finally completed school and was ready to leave home he had no clue. I remember once he tried to do Rice-A-Roni and burnt it.
Don’t you know she attempted to give him a crash course over the span of 2 days. She failed at that too. He still can’t cook so that falls solely on his wife. I bet she isn’t happy with my mom.
At a cooking store the other day, I saw an apron and baking set with the rat from the movie “Ratatouille” on them. It was very cute, and I think a little boy who had seen the movie would be willing to wear it. Although there is the risk that he would want to bring his own pet rat into the kitchen….
My parents had a blank recipe book for me that had a cover in primary colors. When I liked certain dishes, the recipe was copied into my book and I was expected to help prepare it next time. This was very helpful, as it avoided the problems of all the sweet things in kids’ cook books, and I thought it was special because it was my very own cook book, and no one else in the world had one like it. I was the only kid in my dorm who knew how to make mac and cheese from scratch, and I completely spoiled all my friends who grew up with only Easy Mac.
My fiancé can cook, albeit not without a recipe in front of him and measuring everything. He is also rather messy, and tends not to clean up afterwards. I appreciate that he can cook, but my parents’ number one rule was–you cook, you clean up the kitchen!
I agree that cooking is one of those super important skills to teach… that and laundry, and vacuuming, and scrubbing the toilet! My husband didn’t really learn these skills since his mom did so much in the home, and she had the kids concentrate on their academic studies. In fact, over that last holiday we were at his sister’s house and I was teaching her how to make scrambled eggs. Seriously! She’s 36!
I also gave a little cooking lesson to her daughter, now my niece, and she was so afraid to get dirty. This apron would have been perfect, even though I’m sure she still would have washed her hands every few minutes, which isn’t a bad thing. But she did learn the benefits of cleaning as you go!
Atasha- Your mom sounds like my MIL, never taught any of her four sons to cook.
JaneC- I have seen that very same outfit! Actually they have a lot of Ratatouille cooking stuff out there, it’s cute!
Cherry- 36 and can’t scramble eggs? Hold me.
Glinda, on a totally unrelated topic of things-your-future-daughter-in-law-will-thank-you-for, what do you think of a covert movement to make all boys take proper ballroom dance courses? It was the first thing that came to mind when I read the title of your post!
Being married to a non-dancer, I am tempted to do this. My father remembers fondly being dragged to Arthur Murray classes and learning all the “dorky” dances that his mom insisted on him learning. He hated it at the time, but now he is comfortable at any party or reception and is a great dancer. I think my son might thank me in the long run, but I’m curious what your thoughts are.
Eilish, do you mind if I turn this into a post?
Not at all! Like I said, I would love for this to become the next big trend for boys. Much more useful than gymnastics!