I am a mom of a three year old boy who has a lot of energy: always wants to hide or asks for snacks or is throwing toys or chasing the dog around. He is exhausting. One side of the situation is that it’s hard to cook around him when his father isn’t home. He’s at an age where sometimes he’s super happy to watch a movie, and other times he’s climbing in and out of his high chair and climbing all over the top of the couch. And when I’m cooking, he wants to be in the kitchen with me, and I can’t allow it because there are sharp objects around that he can get his little hands on.
We just moved into our first actual house, from an apartment. It’s been really exciting. I decided that I wanted to be able to involve my son in dinner time in a more constructive way, rather than having to kick him out every ten seconds. So I put a bug in my stepmother’s ear about how food processors are supposed to be awesome to use in the kitchen and that maybe I would get one to see if I could engage my son safely in the kitchen. Christmas was coming in a couple of weeks, I wouldn’t need to buy it for myself.
Christmas rolled around, and just as I suspected, I got my Cuisinart food processor. I was so excited. Later that night when I got home, I did some research about what kinds of things I could make for larger meals where there are leftovers for my partner to take to work. I was so excited that there were so many things out there. This was a new and exciting way for me to save time in the kitchen, but to spend that time instead explaining things to him and letting him help here and there. I really can’t wait to teach him.
So I logged on to KitchenWorksUSA.com: they sell genuine Cuisinart DLC-7 parts and picked up some different blades: slicers, shredders, graters, and best of all, the french fry disc blade. My son and my partner love french fries. They were so happy that I made that last choice.I was so anxious to get started.
The other aspect to this story is that I want to be a good example to my son. I want him to see what it’s like to make healthy home cooked meals that everyone enjoys. His father really has no concept of nutrition whatsoever, so it is solely my job to instill good habits in my little guy.
I want him to understand the difference between eating highly processed foods that are no good for you and eating fresh things that are nutritious that fuel his growing body.
So far, it’s been a wonderful experience. Right now we’re in that observation stage and are performing very small tasks. We’ll get to the learning bit when he has a better grasp of things like that. I’m looking forward to my journey of teaching and learning with my son and my Cuisinart food processor.
