I haven't had much time to post the last few days being busy with some painting and major cleaning in our flat. I did come around to some baking which will come up in the next posts. But before I wanted to share with you, especially those who have kids or are about to (hi Deb :-)), a little experience about kids and cooking.
I actually intended to title the post:
Parents Beware! Cooking parents might have serious effects on their children
but then I thought the intended ironic nature of the title would probably not come through, and left it. After all being a parent also has a certain amount of being hyper-protective ;-). Not the best state of mind for irony.
In the photo above you see our son, Saami. Yes, it is exactly like it looks like, he's trying to sautee some acorns in a small pan on his cardboard stove. That little cardboard stove is the solution to one small problem we've had with Sammi since a few months.
As you can imagine we cook a lot at home (only a tiny section gets posted here), and the kitchen is sort of the "social" place of our flat. So Saami sees us cooking almost every day. You can never tell what kids find fascinating, but in our case he started being really curious about what we were doing in those pots. Lucky enough for us he knows what "hot" is and does not try to touch the stove. Still we had to pick him up and show him what was cooking more and more often. Cooking while holding a kid in your arms is neither safe or practical. Luckily Daniela had the good idea of making him a little cardboard stove. Now while we cook he plays happily cooking pine cones, acorns, and so on.
I have to admit I'm quite proud. Cooking in my family was always also a men's thing and it looks like Saami will continue the tradition :-).
That's a terrific picture! I'm all for children getting involved with the cooking as long as they know not to touch the hot stove and the sharp knives. Sounds like Saami knows. I learned from my Nonna. She used to let me "help" shell the peas and beans and mush the ground meat for the meatballs, she started my love of cooking which I will hopefully pass on to my children.
Again, great photo.
Posted by: Deb | November 26, 2003 at 03:32 AM
so cute!
Posted by: Wena | November 26, 2003 at 05:19 AM
Wena: Thanks!
Deb: I'm really looking forward to Saami being a bit older and starting to play/really cook together. My story is similar to yours, cooking with my parents and aunts as a kid (mixing cake dough, shaping biscuits and so on) is one of the memories I cherish most. I too hope to pass on the love for cooking to him.
Posted by: albiston | November 26, 2003 at 10:45 AM
You have a very adorable son! I'm all for boys being interested in and learning to cook - afterall, food is so much more than just sustenance. Unfortunately, in alot of Asian families, most if not all the cooking is done by the women.
Posted by: Renee | November 26, 2003 at 10:06 PM
Renee, I agree completely with your comment on food: food is IMO our roots, culture, even personal history.
About boys and cooking: in Italy the situation is not that different, women did most of the cooking, at least till recently. My family is a bit an exception probably because of one of my grandads who really liked cooking.
Posted by: Alberto | November 27, 2003 at 08:54 AM