Raising Healthy Families

Start small. Think of ONE skill each of your kids could do next, like cutting a banana with a butter knife, measuring a teaspoon of salt, or learning to flip pancakes at the stove. “Baking muffins” entails about 7 unique skills, so don’t feel like you have to complete a whole recipe with kids to make progress teaching them to cook.

You might also look for outside help and learn cooking skills together as a family. My Kids Cook Real Food eCourse provides the demonstration you need to keep things simple, with over 30 basic skills so that your kids can handle any recipe. My kids each make a whole dinner for the family every week, but they all started out stirring with my hand over theirs or cutting cooked potatoes with a dull knife. Even if you as the parent aren’t confident in the kitchen, your kids can still learn to cook!

Grab the free preview of our knife skills video lesson right here.

Chores are all about building family responsibility. Kids need to know they’re a valued member of a team, and that their contributions matter.

They also need to know HOW to complete the tasks, so teaching skills in small, manageable pieces is an important piece of the process. Our #LifeSkillsNow workshops will help you teach over 350 basic life skills kids ages 5-18 need to know. Grab 4 free right here.

You can create that family culture of contribution and build self esteem while the house gets clean if you implement a simple chores system that is flexible and gives kids agency along the way. We’ve used the same “family responsibility” system for over a decade, and you can grab the whole thing for free right here.

Just remember: connection first, instruction second. Make it a team effort at first and watch the resistance soften.

Younger than you think!

• Age 1-3: washing produce, helping knead bread dough, cutting with a dull knife, spreading
• Age 4-6: cracking eggs, cutting small items with a sharp paring knife, some are ready for basic stovetop work
• Age 7-10: more sharp knife skills, anything at the stove, completing full recipes independently
• Age 11+: loading the oven, cooking full meals

At Kids Cook Real Food, we start kids with knives as young as age 2 using dull tools, but with the same techniques used with chef’s knives. By age 4 many students use a paring knife, and by age 7 or 8, many are confident with a chef’s knife.

As for the stove, if your child can follow directions and stay focused, they’re likely ready to learn with you nearby in preschool or early elementary. It’s not about a magic age. It’s about maturity and mindset. What’s most important is making the kitchen feel available to them and positive experiences so they want to return and learn more. Grab the free Kids Cook Real Food download of life skills in the kitchen, separated by age, for some specific tasks.

Adjust your expectations. It will be slower and messier, but it’s an investment. I can’t open a bag of flour as an adult without covering everything, so it’s possible kitchen work is inherently messy!

Including kids in real work builds skills and connection. You’ll get back tenfold every minute you invest, and your kids’ confidence will soar. It’s worth it, so say yes when you can.

Don’t teach something new right before dinner though. That’s too stressful for everyone! Choose a time right after a snack or weekend meal when the kids are happily fed and in the kitchen anyway. Teach one skill, and then they can practice before mealtimes and not slow you down.

Try this 10-minute knife skills and safety video to streamline the process. You can flip it on while the kids are eating their snack and rocket right into practicing immediately afterward.

Fit the knife to your child’s hand and experience. Dull knives like a dinner knife or some cheese knives for young children or any rookie, graduating to sharp paring knives of any kind between 4-7, then on to chef’s knives. I recommend chef’s knives between 5-6” for children’s hands, no larger. See all of our recommended cooking tools for kids here or our review of specific kid-safe knives here.

The Kids Cook Real Food eCourse has a whole system for knife skills, and we teach kids as young as 2. What matters most isn’t the knife, it’s fitting the food to the size of the knife and learning proper technique. Our students hold the food and move the knife in nearly the same way from butter knives to chef’s knives. Check out the free knife skills and safety lesson for kids ages 2-teen here.

Start by inviting them into the kitchen. Kids who help cook are way more likely to try what they make—yes, even the green stuff.

Autonomy is a secret weapon here. Let them pick the vegetable at the store. Have them wash it, chop it, and serve it. We’ve seen thousands of picky eaters try a new food simply because they were involved in its preparation.

And remember your Poker Face: pressure always backfires.

The Kids Cook Real Food P.E.P. Club (Picky Eater Playbook) gives parents a 5-part system to truly help build a healthy relationship with food for the kids. You can start with a free 5-day No More Picky Eating Challenge to get a feel for the system here.

Not automatically. In fact, research shows that only about one third to one half of picky eaters will outgrow their feeding struggles without intervention. Intentional parenting makes a difference!

The habits we build early tend to stick. My best advice? Don’t pressure, but don’t give up. Offer veggies often, keep modeling, and celebrate small wins. Absolutely do NOT stop serving foods that your kids push away, and avoid cooking only “kid food” for them either. If they never have a chance to eat the broccoli (or soup, or whole grain bread, or sauce), they definitely won’t expand their palate. My third child took until age 5 to accept green veggies—but he got there, one exposure at a time. Here’s how I help other parents reach the same picky eating success.

Peer pressure and novelty. And sometimes…they have you pegged.

It’s far too easy for exhausted parents to fall into the short order cooking trap and lower our expectations for what our kids will eat. Begging, cajoling, and bribing won’t work. We need to consistently serve healthy foods we want our kids to eat, avoid the highly palatable junk that highjacks their tastebuds, and stay firm (but loving).

Eating is all about relationships: the child’s relationship with food should be paramount, but sometimes our relationship with them gets in the way and power struggles ensue. It’s all fixable! Check out day 4 of the free No More Picky Eating Challenge for more on how.

It’s not your fault. And you’re not alone!

Many, many parents have fallen down the slippery slope of short order cooking, because we all want our kids to eat something. We have to keep them alive after all!

But long-term, that creates entitlement and limits their learning. Serve one meal, include one “safe food,” and hold the line. My kids know they don’t have to eat everything, but they do have to sit with the family, serve themselves a “Taster Bite” of everything, and be polite. I always say, “You don’t have to eat that.” That phrase changed everything.

Stop short order cooking today by joining Team One Meal. Here’s how.

My team and I are here for you! Tap the chat icon in the corner of your screen to get in touch with my Happiness Coordinators.