I think it's important for kids to learn how to cook and bake so that as they get older they feel comfortable in the kitchen and are able to make--and prepare!--good decisions in their health and nutrition. Tristyn and Maia often help me in the kitchen with all sorts of things: tortillas, pasta, cake, bread, eggs, bagels, and, of course, cookies to name a few. But recently, I have really been encouraging them more and more to make things with absolutely no help from me beyond guidance. It's working well.
Even if there is the occasional mishap. Tristyn used a damp towel to take a cookie sheet out the second time and got a wee burn. It was small and after 20 minutes barely red at all but I'm sure in the future he will be more aware of how he chooses to protect his hands. The cookie recipe was from a cook book they brought home from the library.
They chose the most complicated, multi-step recipe in the book: checkerboard cookies and didn't even hesitate in their decision to bake the most difficult one. Truly, they are bakers in the making after my own heart.
