5 easy ways you should include your toddler with meal prep
Being a mom is hard. Knowing if you prepared your child for life after your home is scary. Doing everything we can to set them up for success helps! For me, as a mother, I need ideas and how to get the ball rolling for teaching and preparing my child (cue the 3 million “is my newborn breathing” videos I sent to my twin sister every day). So I get it, we are all just trying to figure it out. Here is a success story for me and how it can be for you too! Including your children in meal preparations has many benefits including quality time together, practical life skills, understanding where food comes from, understanding how to create a nutritious meal (and life!), pride in their work and being a part of a family goal. As a new mom I was nervous for this step because of the extra time, safety precautions and food on the floor this might bring. However, as a previous Montessori teacher I knew there are ways to set our children up for success and ourselves for peace of mind. I have had my toddler helping in some capacity with meal prep since the age of 15 months old… and lessons have been learned by both of us. However, seeing my toddlers little hands chopping fruit, stirring batter and beaming with pride has been the most rewarding experience. I have been most successful with the following list of five steps for my toddler.
1. Produce Cleaning! Setting up a produce cleaning basket with items ahead of time helps with this step. Include a bowl, produce for cleaning (thieves essential oil is a safe choice), a soft bristle brush and a colander. Teach your child how to clean produce then have them clean the produce and place in a colander. Once all the produce is in the colander have your child rinse it thoroughly and leave to dry
2. Have your toddler place items in a container for you to prep- Show your child where the item is you would like moved. Examples, pour flour into a mixing bowl, placing fruit in the blender basin (make sure it is not attached to base and they cannot reach the blades), pouring milk into batter or any other safe transferring idea you can include your child in. (Include moving the clean produce if your child completed this step to a serving dish.) Set up any items they can move easily from one place to another involving meal prep. This step can, sometimes, feel like it is creating more work for you… you’re not wrong. However, it is an easy step for your child to feel included and a part of the preparations.
3. Chopping produce- This one can feel scary but if you have the right tools it is safe. Our child uses a wooden knife and cutting board to chop fruits and vegetables. In addition, we have a compost bowl (or garbage bowl if composting isn’t your thing) and a prepped produce container to hold the produce that will be transferred to the table, such as a salad bowl. We have a garden (made with recycled containers from around the house!) that we use our compost for and it helps our toddler understand the life cycle of produce.
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4. Set the table- Having your child (after washing hands) transfer items that are safe to the table. Starting with putting placements and napkins on the table (in a pile at the edge when they are too young/short to reach and to each setting as they are older and taller). Bringing safe plates, cups or silverware to the table is a great next step!
5. Plating items for serving- Once your toddler has mastered the steps above have them plate serving platters for your meal. It may not look perfect (at first!) but the effort will be there. Have your toddler wash hands, place safe items on to a serving platter and bring that serving platter to the table. Spend a lot of time working on the practical life skill of balancing and pouring before moving on to this step. This is an opportunity to teach about hygiene with handwashing, using utensils to move the items, cleaning items (or disposing of it absolutely necessary) if they were dropped and how to successfully move objects from one place another. Cause and effect and natural consequences will be learned here… don’t start with your families heirloom fine china. Good luck and happy learning (and dropping!) for your toddler! *Pro tip have a child size functional mop and broom near by… when the something is dropped they also can learn to clean up the floor.
Our 19th month old, for every meal, cleans and chops produce, brings plates and napkins to the table, helps fill (and often mix!) bowls for prepping and any other safe jobs we think of in the moment. The pride they show in their work, especially as we eat the produce they chopped is just as gratifying a feeling for them as it is us! Starting and guiding a child young, in the process of helping with everyday tasks is important to feel like a cohesive ecosystem in your house, to learn and perfect life skills and for them to understand the work it takes to run a house hold. When the work is put in, by all, the appreciation is stronger for and from everyone. Children can do difficult things and so can we… with a little bit of guidance!
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