The Kitchen Helper Experiment

• April
• 22

6:19 pm Mums, Parenting, Parenting Teens

Lawrence and I have been concerned lately about the amount of time our two teenagers spend on computers, social media, PS3  … the list goes on. It’s a battle we seem to come back to again and again *sigh*.

We’ve tried lots of things over the years including limiting or even banning the use of electronic games/media/what have you, but sooner or later the kids get back into the habit and we end up right back where we started. 

(An aside: when I mentioned our concerns to an older friend, she reminisced about how in her day, her parents were upset about the amount of time she spent listening to that dreadful rock music on the radio and especially Elvis Presley! When I was young, the complaint was that youngsters watched far too much TV … now it’s social and electronic media … I can’t help but wonder what it will be for the next generation?)

Our strategy (this time!) is distraction – we are trying to find other things to get the kids involved in to get them away from the PCs.

As I was praying and mulling things over, I was reminded of how I was expected to help my mother each night with dinner preparation from the age of twelve or thirteen. (People who know me well will know my upbringing was anything but a picnic, but for all that was wrong I do actually have some good memories, and this is one of them). Hmmm. Was God trying to show me something?

So our latest strategy is to ensure that no matter which parent is cooking dinner, the kids will take it in turns to be the kitchen helper. Now I know this may seem basic and obvious and something we should have done a long time ago, but until recently we lived in a tiny house with an even tinier kitchen and there just wasn’t room for more than one cook!

But now … we put the plan in motion this week. Miss 13 (who is getting A’s for Practical Cookery at school, and loves baking and cooking anyway) was just fine with the new routine.

Mr-16-next-month however was less than impressed! On his first night as kitchen helper, I made shepherd’s pie and gave him the task of peeling the potatoes. My goodness! You have never seen such a production! He moaned, he complained, he tried to wiggle out of it, he pleaded, he argued, and used every excuse under the sun before finally giving in with bad grace and major attitude.

I’m still not sure if it was the attitude or if he really didn’t know how to peel potatoes, but by the time he’d FINALLY finished I had already cooked the mince component and had it in the pie dish! So despite having a kitchen helper it took a bit longer than normal to make dinner …

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy to go and do his homework as when I finally released him from his kitchen duties that night!

His whole carry-on however only served to cement our determination to stick to this new strategy – it only proved how much it is needed!

So what do we hope to gain out of the Kitchen Helper Experiment?

• Well for a start, both the kids will gain practical living skills like learning how to peel potatoes! (And not a moment too soon, as Mr-16-next-month will finish high school at the end of next year and who knows what the future holds after that …);
• Our teens will have a fresh appreciation for the meals that appear on the table each night;
• It will be an opportunity for parent and teen to share  some quality time (I’ve noticed before that many a good chat takes place when working together on something – even something as mundane as cooking dinner);
• And of course our ultimate goal: to get our teens away from the computers etc.

It was exhausting dealing with such opposition, but I’m pleased to report that tonight there was barely a murmur when I called Mr-16-next-month for kitchen duties. Maybe it was because burritos were on the menu, and no peeling of potatoes was involved … LOL

I’ll keep you posted on how the Kitchen Helper Experiment progresses!