making their own food

[hopeforchange]

what foods can your 5yos make for themselves? how did you go about teaching them?

my dd rarely eats what i make for dinner (and that's a topic for another thread, lol) and i'm tired of making dinner and then later (she has to wait until we're done eating before she can eat something else) having to make something else for her. i want her to learn to make herself some food. so i'd love to hear what your kids make for themselves and any tips or tricks you have for making it easy for kids to learn to fix themselves food!

[Iarwain]

My 5 yo can make PB&J sandwiches if you don't mind sticky fruit spread all over the counter. :shifty I never taught her, she just took it upon herself one day when she got hungry. She also knows how to make a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave. For that I showed her which measuring cup to use and to put in one of oatmeal and two of water and which buttons to push on the micro. Either I or an older sibling talked her through it the first few times. I don't let her use the stove yet and don't buy a lot of processed stuff that would be easier so that's about all she can make for now. Usually if she wants a snack she'll just grab some string cheese or veggies from the fridge.

Do you have a stool for the kitchen? That's very helpful.

[sherry]

...cereal, peanut butter sandwiches, strategically placed fruit. And all are still pretty messy.

[MomtoJGJ]

I'm really bad about this... so I'm subbing for ideas. We don't have a microwave, and I"m paranoid about the stove. I know my current 5yo and all my oldest three can make sandwiches as long as the bread is sliced already. I need to get over my weirdness and teach my kids how to cook, even if just using the crock pot!

[BriansLovie]

I am sure he could make a pbj sandwich, but I make all his food. I would not have him deal with the stove or crockpot yet, and the microwave is way too high for him to reach (it's over the stove).

[Calee]

Mine is 4, but he can make a peanut butter sandwich or bowl of cereal. Other than that I have things in the fridge that he is allowed to get himself-string cheese, fruit, yogurt. Not ready for him to use anything hot yet....

[Macky]

Yeah, I'm not ready for her to be cooking with any sort of appliance yet. She's five... oops, six today! Imnsho, it's my job to make her meals still at this age. :shrug

[JessicaTX]

My kids got peanut butter sandwiches if they didn't eat dinner, no jelly because it always made a huge mess. To this day if they don't like dinner they can make themselves peanut butter sandwich instead. When I limited the other meal options they were a lot more willing to try out what I cooked. I also told them that it takes 14 tries to learn to like something, so anytime they didn't like what i'd made I'd say "that's ok, only 8 more tries and you will!"

[milkmommy]

Mine could do a fair amount of stuff sandwiches simple microwave stuff (when we had a microwave) getting fruit veggies ect...
However I'll be honest we tried the get you own thing and it back fired in a HUGE and ANNOYING way she went from being super picky to down right deffient cause well she could just do something else latter. :-/ Her food choices became more and more limited and before we realized it she was living gigantic stretches off of cereal bannana and microwave Mac N cheese..only comming to join us on pizza and taco nights. :-/
Now we dont allow this (with VERY rare exceptions) instead we made soem simple dinner time changes...

1) shes get to help prepare and in so get some say in whats served.. For example she might get to decide if were having carrots or green beans and if they will be served cooked or raw... or if we should make hot dogs or hamburgers. etc..

2) fresh fruit at every meal, DD isn't a big veggie eatter Ive tried and she somewhat better but I'm facing reality her colorful 5 will need to have a sweeter taste so I encourage fruit :shrug3 putting a bowl of fresh fruit on the table at every meal ensures my girls get at least something of value.

3) the change to make somesthing BEFORE we sit down... IF I'm making a meal I know DD isn't going to touch and has gone through the we should try it first tests then I'll invite her to the kitchen to make herself a sandwhich or somethign simple before we sit down so I can ensure it still decent its cleaned up and she understands a bite of what I made will still be required cause shes might like it today..

Deanna

[solatido]

I kinda want my 2 yo to be able to cook scrambled eggs and grilled cheese by the time he is 5... :shifty He sits at the stove and melts the butter, shakes in the pepper, and stirs the eggs in the pan. I plan to add in letting him break and stir the eggs and milk soon, his fine motor skills are improving. Once he gets to that point he should almost be ready to do it with no help.

I expect to supervise him at the task for a long time after that (probably to 8-9?) just because accidents can happen at the stove. But as long as I can see that he is sitting well on the stool, I don't have to hover while he stirs anything. I can be chopping veggies next to him. He has learned not to touch the hot parts, but it is easy for him to see what is hot since the stove is gas.

[hopeforchange]

i won't let dd have other food while we are eating b/c then her brothers won't eat what i made either. :doh so she has to try what i made and then wait until after everyone has eaten before she gets anything else.

thank you all for your perspectives and ideas. :)

[mom2boys]

well in my house if you can't cook there are times where you don't eat. :shifty :lol

My 5 yr old can make a pb&j, make a "cheesy tortilla" AKA shredded cheese on a flour tortilla and warmed up till melting then rolled up. He can make scrambled eggs in a cup (butter a coffee mug, crack an egg into it, cook in microwave for 2 minutes) make toast, make oatmeal, make a cheese and cracker platter, he could get a bowl of cereal but I don't buy any :lol he gets his own drinks, too, and he has made kool aid before. :)

[Aerynne]

Mine can make cheese toast (put cheese on bread, put in toaster oven), cereal, pbj. He can get himself fruit and crackers.

You could just have snacks down that she's allowed to get (muffins, pre-made pancakes, etc)

My kids only get to have toast if they don't like dinner. That decreases the amount of times they decide not to eat dinner because toast isn't super exciting, but it's good enough that they'll eat it if they really don't like dinner.

[milkmommy]

i won't let dd have other food while we are eating b/c then her brothers won't eat what i made either. :doh so she has to try what i made and then wait until after everyone has eaten before she gets anything else.

thank you all for your perspectives and ideas. :)

:yes that makes total sense we have a few issues with that lately.

[MomtoJGJ]

Reading all these... it would make life so much easier if my kids would eat cheese :shifty