Little Cooks at Dinnertime

“Mom, what’s for dinner?” The answer to such a question often brings forth a positive “All right!” or a negative “Oh, yuck!” response, depending on what’s being served. Sound familiar?

My husband suggested it might be fun as well as educational to let our five older children, ages 3 to 10, help with menu planning, shopping, and meal preparation.

To begin this adventure, we wrote everyone’s name on a piece of paper, including Dad’s, and put them in a bowl. Then we laid down a few ground rules:

1. When their name was chosen, they could choose the day of the week to participate and the menu for that day.

2. They would have to select a main dish and something from the grain, fruit, and vegetable groups.

3. No one could duplicate any menu previously chosen.

4. Dessert was optional. However, by the end of the week we ended up having two homemade pies, a trifle, root beer floats, and a made-from-scratch cake.

I drew names from the bowl, and we filled out our menu chart. After all the menus were selected, I made up a shopping list for each person. Then we headed to the grocery store. My husband and I each got a grocery cart, and we divided up the children and did the shopping. By the time we got home, the children were excited about the week’s menus and looked forward to their day to cook. We didn’t hear a single complaint about the dinner menu all week!—Marylan A. Hales, Santaquin, Utah

Photo by Steve Bunderson