I've always known that kids are capable beings - very capable at a young age to make huge messes and refuse to clean them up. I am not one of those lucky women who was born with a love of cooking NOR do I have any interest in cleaning up the cooking mess. Now, I know as a stay at home mom, it is my primary responsibility to do these things, but I have to admit I have no love for either of them. I know some wonderful women who are very talented at organizing and cleaning, or find joy in providing beautiful square meals for their family daily - this simply is not me. Because of this, I have a strict rule in my house that no kids are allowed in the kitchen when I'm cooking. I'm stressed out as it is trying to muster up some sort of meal within 20 minutes since I've procrastinated till the last moment my most unfavorite chore of the day. Kids asking to "help" just adds to my aggravation.
BUT...in light of my recent lessons learned, I decided that I might help to teach my kids some skills in the kitchen and have them make strawberry freezer jam. I didn't have any plans, so there was no rush, freezer jam is easier than pie with no cooking even!
I was most nervous about letting either of them use sharp knives. Rayna is 6 and she has cut herself using a butter-knife before. Ian is 8, but he is simply careless at times. I was more afraid of him accidentally stabbing Rayna with his knife than I was worried about either of them cutting themselves. I just kept telling myself that even if there is blood, they won't die...it's part of learning. And how will Ian ever learn to be careful with a knife unless he practices, and hopefully if I supervise, someday I may even TRUST him with one...maybe.
Believe it or not, they cut the greens off of 4 whole pounds of strawberries without one accident! Amazing! They had a great time together. Jaeda woke up from her nap during their fun and came to watch.Here is Rayna stirring in the pectin that Ian poured in. She lost her front tooth earlier today, so this is her brand new tooth-less smile. The next step to freezer jam is to stir it every 5 minutes for 1/2 hour. They weren't too keen on hanging out for that, so I let them go play and I finished it up myself all ALONE.
It wasn't so bad having them in the kitchen as long as I wasn't doing any of it. I didn't mind supervising them, and when it was my turn I got the kitchen to myself. What a great experience. For dinner, we had bread and JAM. It was fun to see the kids enjoy it so much.