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After Shanghai lockdown entered the third week, a mother in the circle of friends said: "I have cooked 75 meals, I am on the verge of collapse, and I want to throw up when I see the gas stove!" ”
This situation reminds me of when I was staying at home in the United States before, there were three things that bothered me the most.
The first fear is that you can't grab vegetables and toilet paper on the Internet (don't dare to go out for fear of infection);
The second is to have a nervous breakdown in cooking (who can tell me why bear children eat three meals and two snacks a day at home?!!! ）
The third is that children take online classes every day (school is closed), have nowhere to vent their exuberant energy, and are calling "bored to death, bored to death" every day...
Of course, when you painstakingly prepared the dish you had painstakingly bought and brought it to the table, the bear child only glanced at it and said, "There are too many broccoli in this dish, I don't eat it!" ”
What the! Is this the right time for you to be picky eaters?!!
On the most emo occasion, I forced my sons to wipe out all the onion slices in the fried beef onions. For several days on end, the sons smelled like two huge, grumbling stinky onions.
Fortunately, I soon discovered the best way to have my child eat well and vent excess energy, and to keep myself happy, that is—
Let the child learn to cook!!!
After all, according to my reader friend, "The housekeeper is like starting a company, decentralization, team building, and making big cakes." ”
Celebrities and CEOs have fallen in love with taking their babies to cook
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Over the years, encouraging children to practice cooking has become a popular trend in celebrity/wealthy circles around the world.
Chris Hemsworth, the "god of thunder," whose wife posted a photo on Instagram, proudly announced: "My dad took his daughter to make a snack after the premiere!" ”
The muscular macho man transforms into a powerful cook, and it feels cute in an instant.
Curtis Stone, who was named one of the "sexiest men" by People magazine, is also a good cook with a baby.
Stone believes that children should go into the kitchen from an early age, and when adults are cooking, they can watch on a high stool. Stone said: "When the child is confident enough, he will ask to cook with you." Unconsciously, they become masters. ”
Not only do you look sunny, you can cook deliciously, but you can also teach your children the skills of cooking by hand! No wonder Stone's "sexy votes" are close to George Clooney and Brad Pitt, two top handsome guys.
The negative teaching material of "love cooking but horizontal crotch" is Brooklyn, who recently got married. As the eldest son of football star David Beckham, Dabu's hobby is cooking, but he is often ridiculed mercilessly by the British media.
For example, once, Dabu made a "salmon bowl" on a TV show, and the onlookers directly sarcastically said, "This cooking skill is also too worrying." "Haven't you studied hard?"
Not only celebrities in show business, but now CEOs, founders and executives of many companies are scrambling to send their children to "cooking class" training.
For example, Yale University has a summer career exploration program, Explo. In one of the cooking classes, children can "learn from a professional chef how to use knives correctly."
The course lasts for two weeks and costs as much as $4,915, which is more expensive than top private high schools and universities!
Seeing this news, I immediately stuffed a kitchen cutting knife into my boss's hand: "Come and come, today we will earn back this 5,000 US dollars!" ”
Children cook
- Z h e n X u a n -
It is the source of happiness for parents
Why is "let children learn to cook" so popular now?
Because, the benefits of this are too much!
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a set of data that says that due to the impact of the epidemic, the number of emergency department visits to adolescent suicide attempts in the United States in 2020 has increased by 31% over the previous year...
There is also news that in the past two weeks, 40% of Shanghai residents have shown a risk of depression. Another 27 percent practice mindfulness meditation, effectively adjusting for negative emotions.
And my impression is, why doesn't anyone specifically count the mental state of being a mother?
Before the epidemic, being a mother was already a hard mode; when the epidemic came, it immediately escalated to hell mode.
For example, as soon as the school closed, I was immediately "nailed" to death in the kitchen. In addition to grabbing food online every day, the most worrying things are: what to eat in the morning, what to eat at noon, what to eat at night, what to eat for snacks, and what to eat at night...
Then in your heart, when there are thousands of chaos and chaos, the bear child still runs over to you from time to time to repeatedly urge you: "Mother and mother, I am starving to death, you cook quickly, when will the meal be good?" ”
Or, "Mommy, don't cook, I'm so bored, you make a game with me..."
Am I three heads and six arms? Can I bring my baby while cooking?
No. But we can change our minds and let the bear children learn to cook on their own.
Cooking can be a craft lesson
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In the beginning, cooking at home was a creative craft class.
Content is generally the simplest and most basic "pastry making".
When making steamed buns, grab a lump of good dough for the children to play freely, and they will pinch out a bunch of small animals with different shapes.
When wrapping wontons, let the bear children participate in the "pinching of the yuanbao", ugly is ugly, and it does not affect the taste.
Once I bought cocoa powder and wanted to bake chocolate bread. As a result, the bear children played high and pinched out a pile of indescribable strips. It looks disgusting and tastes good. The main thing was that I rested quietly for at least two hours.
I also turned over an old hand-cranked dough press, confirmed that it was safe for my fingers, and handed it directly to the three children. They pressed the noodles for an afternoon with great interest.
Roll out a large slice of dough, add some sesame seeds and some salt, take some cookie molds, and let the children make small cookies. If you are a particularly attentive mother, go to the Internet and search for a "cartoon cookie" square, and the snacks made will be even more delicious.
In addition to playing with dough, squeezing juice is also a quality activity for "walking the baby in the kitchen". I would ditch the electric juicer and send a manual juicer to the little ones. Both safe and laborious, after squeezing out a sweaty head, immediately drink a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice made by yourself, and even the vitamin C that is most needed for antivirals is supplemented by the way.
△ Peeling and juicing is very time-killing
During the pandemic, mental health is too important, adults need to rest, children need to be busy.
Children don't do "mindfulness meditation", so let them knead the dough, knead the fruit, and think more about delicious things... This is a super stress-relieving activity for them!
△ Make a small snack
Cooking can be a math lesson
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My third is more than 6 years old, going to preschool, and one day he came to me and asked, "What does my sister say all day about one-half or a quarter of what?" "The four are obviously older than the two, so why does the sister say that the quarter is smaller than the half?"
I explained verbally for half a day, and the 6-year-old still opened his innocent eyes and said he didn't understand.
At noon that day, we made round and slippery beef cakes together, and I had a clever move, picked up a knife and scratched a few times on the cake, and the third brother immediately opened his mind!
Later, I found that children of this age were particularly sensitive to numbers, so I gave him a title of "chief weighing officer", and then gave him tasks such as reading recipes, weighing flour, measuring milk with a measuring cup, and adding sugar and salt with a measuring spoon.
After a few times, the third elder understood the "profound" mathematical problem of "the water in 1/4 cup is half the volume of the water in 1/2 cup". And he "half a bottle of water is dangling" - nothing to do in the online class.
The teacher who taught him later came to me to learn the lessons and asked me what methods I used to make the child's math "so good", I said, "It's actually quite simple, the secret is: first, you have to be a Chinese, and second, you have to teach your child more to learn to cook." ”
△ Make your own birthday cake
Cooking can be a science lesson
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In many well-known summer camps in the United States, there is a course called "Chemistry in the Kitchen". Some courses, such as CTY's "Kitchen Chemistry," cost more than $800 in online tuition. During the stay at home, you can't go anywhere anyway, so interesting activities can be carried out for free.
One of my boss's most obsessive activities is "homemade butter." The procedure is very simple, you put the cream in the bottle, put a little salt, close the lid, and then shake it wildly... Until the cream turns into butter.
I don't know if bear children like to make butter, whether it is because they love to eat butter and spread bread, or if they simply need to vent excess energy... However, after stopping swimming lessons and constantly shaking butter every day, this "kitchen chemistry sport" maintains the beautiful lines of my family's old biceps/triceps muscles very well.
△ Hand cranked butter
"Fruit battery" is one of the "kitchen experiments" that must be done in american elementary school classrooms.
But in fact, if your potatoes sprout, or if you guarantee that the potatoes have been distributed for 50 pounds at a time, then in addition to frying a lot of fries and planting a pot of potato flowers, you can also choose to let the children make a few "potato batteries".
Raw materials need:
More than 2 potatoes (or cut one potato in half)
2 truncated copper wire 2 galvanized nails or screws (non-galvanized nails are not allowed)
Several crocodile clips with wire (if the nail is not wound with copper wire)
Low-voltage LED clock and/or small bulb (for measuring results)
Then assemble it according to the following figure
The "Invisible Ink" experiment is also super simple and super fun, super suitable for children to play handsome in role-playing games.
Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl and add a few drops of water to mix. Take a cotton swab or brush and dip it in the mixture and write down the secret information on a white piece of paper. When the paper dries, the handwriting left by the juice will disappear.
Next, bake the paper next to the bulb. Because lemon juice is an organic substance that oxidizes and turns brown when heated, the secret information previously written on the paper will slowly emerge.
Other substances that can be used to make invisible ink include: orange juice, honey, milk, onion juice, vinegar and wine.
Cooking can be practiced with presentations
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Not long ago, my eldest son's middle school teacher assigned a sociology assignment to the students — showing a hometown dish, introducing its practices and cultural background, and recording the cooking process as a small video for the whole class to watch.
You see, a simple assignment includes several tests of ability in "housework level", "cultural research", "live speech" and "video production".
Later, my son made his favorite and best spicy pot, and for this purpose, he specially studied the origin and characteristics of Sichuan-Chongqing cuisine, and prepared several pages of background information and speeches alone.
In the process of recording the video, he kept stirring and adding ingredients with his hands and feet, and at the same time, he also had to explain step by step in detail... In the end, not only did the dish burn well, but the logical thinking and expression ability seemed to have improved!
If "teaching children to cook" is mostly for "edutainment" and "killing time"; then allowing adolescent children to master cooking skills can completely save the lives of old mothers during the sealing period!
For example, my eldest son, who is in his teens, eats more food per person than the two adults I and his father combined. Moreover, he had to eat five meals a day to be full! I bought a freezer during my stay at home, and in the freezer I stocked almost a pig, half a sheep and many snacks, and these things basically filled in the "bottomless pit" of the eldest son.
Fortunately, the boss has laid a good foundation for cooking since he was a child. I don't have to care about him for breakfast, he can make his own coffee, toast and fry bacon to make poached eggs; I don't have to care about him for supper, he can spread his own muffins, boil noodles, make bubble tea, make custard...
△ Brother's spicy pot
Even once, his father accidentally burned the lunch pizza, just when the younger brothers and sisters were hungry and made my head full of exclamation points, the boss smiled and squinted and brought out a plate of cinnamon rolls, and he said radiantly: "When I made snacks in the morning, I accidentally made too much, let's eat it with the whole family!" ”
At this time, I couldn't help but think, the ancients honestly did not deceive me, and indeed the men who can cook are the most charming!
△ Brother made lunch for everyone
Different ages, do different things
- Z h e n X u a n -
Important:
Children cook, the kitchen is dirty and messy, it doesn't matter, the protection measures should be sufficient.
Children who cut and cut vegetables should wear "anti-cutting gloves" and goggles, and adults should supervise and protect them.
Teach children to wait until the food is cooked before tasting it. Remind them not to lick their fingers or put their hands in their mouths, especially when dealing with biscuit dough and raw foods such as raw meat or poultry.
Children of different ages are suitable for different tasks in the kitchen:
3-5 years old
Young children, motor skills are still developing, so very close adult supervision is required.
Suitable tasks:
Wash your hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds.
Wash the fruits and vegetables in the sink with cool tap water.
Wipe the desktop.
Mix ingredients, such as batters that are easy to mix.
Brush cooking oil on bread, asparagus or other foods.
Cut cookies with a funny shaped cookie knife (but don't eat raw dough!). ）
6-7 years old
Most children aged 6-7 have developed fine motor skills so they can handle more detailed work, but they still need food safety reminders.
Suitable tasks:
Use a peeler to handle potatoes, ginger, mangoes, and other washed fruit and vegetable peels.
Beat the eggs into a bowl. Use a spoon to seed the peppers.
Catch rice, catch beans.
Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
Cut vegetables with blunt-headed kitchen scissors.
8-9 years old
Suitable tasks:
Open the can with a can opener.
Refrigerate the leftovers in a container.
Pound the meat on the cutting board. Make sure to wash your hands with warm soapy water after handling raw meat.
Beat the eggs.
Check the temperature of the meat with a food thermometer (another scientific experiment!). ）
Squeeze lemon juice and orange juice.
10-12 years old
Most of the time, children aged 10-12 years can work independently in the kitchen, but should still have adult supervision. Before letting them complete tasks independently, assess whether they can follow basic kitchen rules, such as adjusting the handle of the pot on the counter to avoid bumps, unplugging the electrical plug, and being able to safely use the knife and the oven or microwave.
Suitable tasks (under adult supervision):
Cook the noodles.
Microwave food.
Read each step in recipe order and measure the ingredients accurately.
Bake food in the oven.
Stew the soup on the stove.
Slice or chop the vegetables.
Well, today's cooking strategy sticker is written here, I hope that Shanghai parents can get out of the current predicament as soon as possible, and at the same time, they can cultivate their own "Chinese little bosses".