Learning From Our Kids
You can read parenting tips everywhere. You’ll find new hacks in print and online. There’s lots of good out there – and some pretty dubious advice. All of the best advice starts from a foundation of respecting your children – valuing their temperaments and the incredible humans they are becoming!
Positive parenting starts with respect.
One way of showing respect for your kids is to learn from them. Usually, the grownups of the world are teaching the kids. Turning the table to see what they can teach us can be magical. Doing so shows a level of respect for kids that they aren’t used to and makes them feel great!
My usually calm and happy daughter teaches me that not everything has to be taken seriously or fixed. She also has shown me how to do a near-perfect winged eyeliner. One son can teach me volumes of history, how to fix almost anything, and how to understand our pets’ behaviors.
My firstborn knows the power of connecting through doing activities together. He has always enjoyed cooking. I am a firm believer that kids belong in the kitchen mixing, tossing, and chopping from the earliest possible age, and he is a product of that.
Cooking with kids from the start!
In preschool, he came home with a yummy recipe for apple pie and insisted we make it that afternoon. In junior high, he had a small business making and selling homemade pasta. In high school (inspired by the movie “Chef”), he threw a summer dinner for a dozen friends. So, it was no surprise that on a warm night after returning from his first year at college, he asked if he could help me cook dinner. I was heading to the store to pick up ingredients for grilled tandoori chicken kebabs. As I headed out, he called after me to add a bag of avocados to my list. I asked what he wanted to make.
“Grilled avocados!”
It seems to me chefs everywhere have gone grill crazy — grilling pizzas and nectarines now seems commonplace. But avocados? I don’t much like avocados except in a fresh and spicy guacamole, so I replied:
“Ugh.”
Well, I learned from him and ate my words. And everyone he has served grilled avocados to since has eaten them too. Hard to understand why grilling an avocado makes it so yummy, but it does. Try for yourself!
About the Author
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