lovebakelearn

I’m standing, for a brief moment, observing this situation I have found myself in. A somewhat out-of-body experience. My toddler is standing on a chair at the kitchen counter. His bottom is bare and his chair is soaking wet. With wee. I like to think that he weed himself in excitement or because he was so entirely engaged in what he was doing that he forgot to go. Or maybe it’s just because he’s two and it’s been an hour. He’s having great fun, grating egg shells, leaving the sharp pieces strewn in amongst the flour, egg and
sugar mixture which coats the side, no wait, the entire kitchen.

I was in control for a while back there and a cake even got made but then sudden chaos descended, in the way it does with toddlers – suddenly. One second you are living the parenting dream and the next you are in up to your neck, trying to claw yourself out, dreading to turn your head to grab the cloth for fear of what may be there when you turn back round. Do I have the strength for the tidy-up? Do I have the conviction to confiscate the egg
shells? Is this a disastrous mistake or a wonderful example of living life to the full with a small child: warts, wee and all? Will I ever have the desire to do this again?

The answer is yes. Definitely yes. But probably differently, which is great because that means that the learning going on in this living classroom is not just shaping my child, it is shaping me too. It is helping me to be a better parent and to learn from my mistakes. It is helping me understand my son. It is helping me to think more like him. It is helping me to be forgiving. That is a lot of learning from a dozen cup cakes, which is why you will find us
back here, standing in the kitchen, looking at our mess and being proud of the outcome. If the cakes are flat, and raw and splattered with snot, that’s ok, because the real outcome may not be the edible (or inedible) one.

How about if we stop assessing what we have made but what we have learnt. Have you ever stopped to reflect on how many new concepts and skills can be mastered in the kitchen classroom? The more I cook with my child, the more I realise the value of this every-day activity and the positive effect it is having on him. I have decided to write this blog to record the processes and the ideas, the conversations and the questions; the special moments shared over a spatula; doubtless, the mistakes and the messes. I hope to convince you that shared kitchen time is good for your child’s brain, for their
life skills, for your relationship, for your health, and for your family.

So I return to my body, come back to earth with a bump, and decide that not only will I deal with this mess, with my child re-clothed and safely parked in front of Peppa Pig, but I will find in that mess the evidence of learning, and it will be celebrated.

After all, he learnt to use that grater by watching me once. I should be proud of that.