Cooking with Children and Tips to Enjoy It



“Ma, what's next? salt? pepper?"
My son, Bo, was holding the wok with sauted onion, scrambled eggs and steam rice, busy mixing them all with spatula.
I was cutting the sausages and bakso, Indonesian meat balls, that would be added to nasi goreng, Bo's favorite dish.
"Okay..add a pinch of salt and white pepper, then pour some kecap", I instructed him while adding those sausages and bakso to the wok, cooked it for a while and .
"Hmmm..I love the smell, bang! This will be perfect!" I said.
"Yes ma.. and I'm gonna eat them all!" he said, grining widely.

**

Cooking with Bo is one of the usual scenes we have at home lately.
Well, since we live in NYC, Bo has been showing big interest on cooking or helping me cooking his favorite food, to be exact.
Simple thing like martabak, telur dadar, pancakes, and nasi goreng, are some examples of food we love to cook at home together.

I love cooking!
And I guess my son loves it, too.
Of all the household chores I love,- or rather have to do, at home, cooking is on top of my list.
And that’s the question for #BON30dayChallenge as well.
What is your favorite household chores?

There is something relaxing about cooking.
When you are challenged to create something delicious with your bare hands, you have the power to use your imagination. Doing it with your kids make it even more fun!
Both Bo and I are foodies as well.
We love delicious food and instead of spending so much money eating outside, we love cooking at home using whatever ingredients we have.
Sometimes we revive my mom or my grandma’s recipes and try to compare it with our own creation.
There are time when we peep on YouTube to see certain cooking process.
For sure, cooking is quite a bonding experience for both of us.

And now, here are some tips for you who like cooking with children.

Try something simple

I always try to cook simple things with Bo before I can be sure that he’s up for this chore.
Cooking requires certain procedures that might be complicated.
So instead of confusing our kids and make them traumatic in the kitchen, better try something simple like scramble eggs and fried rice. Then if the kids seem to enjoy it, we’ll make martabak or soup which require more preparation.

Teach them about safety in the kitchen

This is really important! There are so many dangerous items in the kitchen, starting from the stove and the oven, knives and aharp objects, and hot, spicy.
Teach them how to handle those things and if they’re not sure about it, tell them to stop for a while and let us handle it. I always remind Bo that kitchen is not a playground. We can certainly have fun but we have to be fully aware.

Don’t critize them too much

Kids do make mistakes, just like us. 
And cooking can be complicated.
Sometimes we forget that they’re still kids and they easily mess things up. Of course we have to tell them what’s right and what’s wrong, but if we criticize them too much they will get discourage and loose their enthusiasm in cooking. We don't want this to happen, do we?
Let them create, make mistakes, mess things up. 
Then teach them to clean up with you and make things better next time.

Enjoy the process

That will be my last tip!
Don’t forget to enjoy the whole process with them.
Sometimes we focus too much on the results but we forget how fun the process is!
Don't forget that you are spending your precious times with your loved one.
It should worth the effort.

Wishing you all a happy cooking session with your kids and have fun!

33 comments:

  1. Salah satu kegaiatan favorit aku juga memasak, Mbak. Tapi yang gampang-gampang aja seperti sayur bening dll.

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  2. Jadi teringat masa kecil waktu emakku masak terus aku ikutan masak juga. Kalau sekarang sih aku yang masak sedangkan emakku nggak masak karena emakku sakit. Huhuhu.

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  3. Punya cita-cita juga anak saya bisa "kenal" dengan dapur, at least gak kagoklah sama "hawa" dapur.. hehe

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  4. Kalo di rumah mba Indah, Bo yang suka bantuin masak ya. Di rumah ku, si bungsu yang suka bantu2, dari potong sayuran sampe goreng ayam atau mendoan. Dan aku setuju kalo mereka melakukan hal yang salah, jangan dibenerin. Kasih contoh aja kalo aku mba. Tapi kadang aku biarkan aja, dari pada nggak mau bantuin, hihii

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  5. Momen masak bersama ini sudah jarang kami lakukan, karena anak-anak malah yang take part di dapur. Sementara emaknya makin males masak, wkwkwk. Tapi mengawali masa-masa mengenalkan anak di dapur, sama seperti yang dilakukan mbak Indah, kurang lebih. Dan ini momen berharga untuk bonding dengan mereka. Thanks for sharing mbak.

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  6. My grandson,
    Ayman also seems to like cooking. He starts with a simple thing like cooking Indomie Soto, scrumble eggs, fried rice with sausages, egg n meat ball. Some packages of instant
    seasoning. Iris2 sayuran juga Ayman suka bantuin, mau bener or gak motongnya yg udah diajarin salah2 potong mah gakpapa stuh, namanya juga bocah.

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  7. dan aku pun masih aja sering enggak betah masak bareng nyokap karena terlalu banyak kritik! jadi bener banget jangan terlalu banyak mengkritik mereka

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  8. da only thing I don't like about cooking is the stench that never leaves after that :)

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  9. wow Bo pinter banget, boleh nih kapan kapan nyicipin martabak buatan Bo ^^

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  10. Ku paling bisa masak MPASI aja mba, setelah 2 th ku ga bisa masak macam macam, tapi sepertinya seru juga ya masak bareng anak. Ku harus belajar masak lagi nih

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  11. Saya paling suka masak bareng sama anak. Memang sih kadang-kadang suka ada aja hebohnya. Tetapi, tetap seru dan saya menikmati banget :)

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  12. anakku masih takut diajak masak, takut kena wajan panas padahal ya ga pernah. Tapi memang mungkin belum kepengen. Ntar aja kali ya dia penasaran pada waktunya

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  13. I love it when kids want to help out in the kitchen. Getting them involved in making the meal always makes them more open to trying new foods. Wonderful tips, Indah!

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  14. My younger one Isaak is more helpful in the kitchen than my older one Mica. I kind of think I work better with Isaak overall. Our personalities are more similar. Mica's personality is more like Travis'. That's not to say I don't love both of our children. I just work better with Isaak.

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  15. Keinget semasa kecil waktu mau ikut masak sama nenek atau ibu malah dilarang deket2 sama dapur 😭 jadinya smpe skrg ngkk terbiasa, bljr dr oengalaman it sy meximpulkan bhwa mengjr anak ikut masak bareng akan sngt berpengaruh

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  16. Mudah-mudahan anakku nanti juga pada bantuin mamaknya masak di dapur ya kayak kakak Bo, cwo cwe gak ada batasan buat masak memasak mah... Karena makan adalah hak segala bangsa bahahahha...

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  17. Aku belum berani ajakin si sulung tapi memang beritahu safety saat memasak itu beneran penting, satu waktu lagi ajarin potong2 sambil goreng ayam eh meledak2 akhirnya si sulung ngibrit hahaha

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  18. Aku kadang juga masak2 kan sama keponakanku. Kalau dia pegang sutil, tetap kuawasi dari dekat. Dulu dia lumayan minat sama masak. Gak tau deh nanti

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  19. Senang ya mba..bisa menghabiskan waktu mengerjakan hal yg disukai bersaam anak-anak.. pasti itu akan jadi pengalaman mengesankan buat mereka...

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  20. Memasak.. Diantara segalanya aku jg memilih memasak. Dan alhamdulillah anak pertama jg suka. Terimakasih tips nya mba indah

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  21. Seru ya mba bisa masak bareng anak. Thanks anyway buat tipsnya mba.

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  22. This post makes me wanna cook with I'am or Shaki for the long holiday. Maybe I'm gonna make a list what to cook everyday with them, oh or I and the children will discuss what to cook first. I think it's gonna be fun for us! Thank's for the story, Mama Bo!

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  23. Aku pun suka banget mba memasak ama anak. Apalagi anakku tuh suka masak. Klop

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  24. Saya sedang memberanikan diri ni Mbak untuk ngajak anak saya masak. Maklum masih kecil (2 tahun). Tapi dia selalu exiting, saya jadi mikir untuk ngajakin tapi sebatas mana aman :) Thanks untuk tipsnya ya Mbak....

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  25. Saya suka memasak bareng anak-anak selain mereka bisa belajar masak , apa yang mereka masak ( proses masak bersama ) makanannya juga mereka habiskan hehe.

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  26. Anak-anak suka kalau diajak mencoba hal-hal baru kaya masak. Siapa bilang anak owo gak boleh diajarin masak ya mbak, justru biar mereka serba bisa

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  27. mba Indah melemparkanku jauh ke masa silam hahaha, masa kecil yang demen amsak-masakan ketika ngeliat ibu asik memasak. dulu paling males kalo disuruh bantuin ibu masak. Tapi pas kerja ke Hongkong akhirnya masak2 sendiri.

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  28. Anak2ku juga kalau aku masak suka bantuin (niatnya gtu hehe_. Tapi paling banter ya ikutan metik2in sayur gtu mbak. Iya sih aku biarin aja, lagipula seneng jg kalau tahu niat anak kan bantuin ya jd sbnrnya baik, meski kdng suka senewen pas malah dipakai mainan hehe

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  29. Totally agree, mba.
    Dont critize too much.

    Kadang kita gak sadaraja gitu...uda merepet ke mana-mana.

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  30. Happy banget masak bareng anak ya mbak..dulu aku juga gitu suka banget lihat ibuku masak meski ujung-ujungnya aku malah bikin berantakan juga haha

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  31. Anak-anakku paling suka bikin klepon dan cookies. Seeng di bagian bentuk dan nyetak2nya :)

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  32. Aku juga sering masak bareng anak2. Seringnya bikin cemilan kayak pisgor dan bakwan. Kadang bikin banana bread

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  33. Idem sama mba Isti. Baca ini bikin pingin ajak anak masak, nanti tp Adek Karla aja klo udh agak gedean. Hihi

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