With more and more people getting busier than ever, wouldn’t it be nice to spare an hour or two to bond with hubby and kids and enjoy the blessings that cooking together has to offer?
Cooking and eating with the family yields many benefits—not just for the body but for the soul, too. Aside from munching a nice meal, cooking together has a lot of advantages, not only in making the family closer than ever, but also warding off kids from bad influence.
Read on and find out more blessings that cooking with the family has to offer.
Introducing a Healthy Diet
Susan Moores, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, reveals that cooking with your kids can boost their desire to choose healthy foods.
According to Elaine Magee, MPH, RD who writes for WebMD.com, eating more fruits and vegetables, options for whole grains and beans, and cooking leaner fresh produce are what kids consider healthy foods.
Patience, team work & organization
Cooking with kids teaches you the art of patience and support. For example, you will need more time (and patience) to teach your kids the right way to cut fruits and veggies, beat the eggs, prepare the ingredients, follow instructions, cook meals and many more.
Cooking together also makes your kids feel that you are there to support them each time they make mistakes—or feel low. They may spill the flour or oil or cut the cabbage the wrong way, but you need to make them feel it’s alright.
Teach them the right way of doing things. And most of all, always appreciate their efforts.
Use polite words like please and thank you. Give them a hand whenever you see that they’re having trouble over something. Cooking together is all about teamwork and respect to the “team members.”
Cooking with kids also teaches them the virtue of organization—keeping things at their rightful places, like meat have to go inside the freezer and veggies on the crispers, and that dishes have to be cleaned right away.
Teaching kids to follow the recipes also enhances their skills to keep things organized.
Protects kids from harmful vices
According to Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, kids who spend time preparing and eating dinners with their three times a week on average are “less likely” to fall prey in drug addiction. A child who finds time to regularly bond during family dinner is 50 percent less likely to smoke tobacco or marijuana and 35 percent less likely to drink alcoholic beverages.
So, moms and dads, there you see the blessings of preparing and eating meals together. So, make it a habit of getting everyone in the family into the kitchen table every evening, if you can, and see the miracles that having a family that bonds together has to offer.
About the author – Manilyn Moreno writes for a catering software company. When not working, Manilyn Moreno spends most of her time cooking and baking.
