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I know it’s not fashionable to admit this, but I’m not a big fan of playing games with kids. Board games bring out the worst in me (that being a killer instinct that’s guaranteed to make small children cry), card games make me impatient and imaginary games have me clock-watching. Call me a bad mother but when my little girls wanted to invite me to a fairy tea party, or Sweet Tooth involved me in a long detailed game of super heroes (including top-to-tail costuming of course), I always suddenly had better things to do. Like the washing. Or a pile of ironing that just couldn’t wait another minute. In fact, the only thing that drove me to doing the chores at all was the threat of having to sit on an incy wincy little chair sipping tepid water from a tea set that has a dubious history, all the while making small talk to the three teddies beside me. So feeling the way I do about games, I had to come up with fun at-home stuff to do with my kids that kept us away from Go Fish, Trouble or the dreaded tea party set. We spent a lot of time in the garden together – one year we scattered five packets of flower seeds randomly across the garden beds and then waited to see what popped up. What appeared was a riotous bounty of flowers that continued for months and kept the kids endlessly busy picking flowers, filling little vases and arranging the flowers in every room of the house. They learnt to weed and care for the annuals and then when every last flower had been picked, we cleared the beds and planted herbs and vegetables for the summer. We did a lot of craft too – what I’m lacking in patience when it comes to games, I more than make up for in the craft department. I pride myself on having the right kid-crafting attitude which involves not being precious about getting dirty or making a mess. I would lay out a heap of newspaper and put them all in their oldest clothes, then I’d get out one of our many craft boxes and let them go for it. Painting was done outdoors, but everything else was done on the kitchen table. As long as they helped clean up at the end (well, sort of!) I was happy for them to create glitter-encrusted mayhem. We also cooked a lot. And I’m not talking about serious cooking, the type where end up with a meal. I mean cooking-as-craft – the type of cooking where it’s a bonus if you end up with something edible! Pikelets and kiss biscuits were big favourites in our house and as long as everyone washed their hands before we started, we usually ended up with a plate full of something that we could enjoy together. The trick to successful cooking-as-craft is that you have to mentally lay down the newspaper before you begin. Don’t get tense about the mess – because there will be heaps! Encourage your kids to do the work, and I mean much more than stirring the bowl and licking the beaters. Teaching them to follow a recipe, measure the ingredients, and get out the equipment from a young age will pay dividends later. Obviously I’m not advocating letting very young children lose in your kitchen – sharp knives, and hot ovens and stoves always require heaps of adult supervision for years. But teaching your kids to be ‘in charge’ in the kitchen when they’re young will mean that they’ll never be intimidated by cooking. And that may just deliver you some home-cooked dinners later THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO MAKE! And as an added bonus, may just save you from another endless game of Snap. My favourite cooking-as-craft recipes are:
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