I have the most adorable video of Maia making bagels. Two of them in fact. The first one is her kneading the dough and discussing the process and the second is her shaping the bagels and discussing the next few steps.
But--when I took the video I used my camera and not the video camera which wouldn't be a problem--except I filmed sideways. Neither Rick nor I can correct this. =( But I did have a few pictures that I'll share since I can't get the videos to do what I want.
We will just jump right in after the dough has already been mixed and kneaded.
Maia cuts the dough into portions for shaping into bagels. She loves using this tool to cut the dough because she knows she can tease me about using My Precious.
I'm starting to suspect that she sees dough as a type of big girl Play-Doh. I enjoy watching her small capable hands shape the dough so confidently.
The next morning, I woke up early to bake Maia's bagels. Bagels go in a water bath and then the oven and those are the only two parts of the whole bagel-making process I won't let her do--yet. But soon, very soon. I want both of my children to be sure of themselves in the kitchen long before they grow up. And, I think because they so often see me in the kitchen cooking and baking for our family and are allowed and encouraged to help as much as they want that they have a good start.
No one showed me how to cook or bake when I was growing up, but I did watch my mother a lot. As I got older, she did occasionally let me bake a little something in the kitchen. But it wasn't until I got married that I really started trying to cook and bake in earnest. It took many years of horrible food before I started getting consistent edible results. I think it's a real shame that I went into adulthood with only the knowledge to boil water for pasta, make grilled cheese and bake two types of cookies. And yet, that's more than so many other young adults know.
Just yesterday, a friend told me about how his girlfriend--at 30--was nearly gagging when she made hamburger patties for their dinner. She likes hamburgers well enough; it was because she had so infrequently made the patties herself. Another friend called me one day to ask me how to scramble eggs. These are only two examples to illustrate my point but there are many many more.
My original idea with this post with the videos was to show you how even a 7 year old can read a recipe and then mix, knead and shape the dough for bagels. Not only did she do all of that and do it well, it was her idea to do it. I merely said yes and kept to the kitchen in case she had questions.
The Point? Here it is: Don't let your children grow up to be afraid of cooking and baking and unable to do it. Encourage them to help. Encourage them to do it on their own while you supervise. They are capable of doing so much more than you think!
