Over the years I have learned to love baking more and more. That is, of course, when I have the time! Even then it is often rushed. This makes it a little hard when my kids walk in the kitchen and say, “oh you’re baking? Can I help?” If you have ever been in this situation you know the moment I am talking about. At first I want to say, “No, I don’t have time”, but then I try to remind myself that there will come a time when they will no longer want to hang out in the kitchen with mom or possibly help with much at all. So, I say yes.
If they want to help, they help. This has always been my feeling when it comes to anything I am doing that they are interested in, and I feel it has helped them become more comfortable in the kitchen. When I was little my mom read a lot, and because of this I would also pick up a book and read. I think about this same thing when the kids are in the kitchen with me. It is where they often see me and they want to be a part of it too. Lately my two year old has taken to pulling up his little step stool literally anytime I walk up to the kitchen counter. I love interacting with him as he becomes more and more independent (even if he is two and drives my crazy at times).
learn to let go
With all of this being said, it does not make the hustle and bustle of a kitchen task with kids any easier. It has just become one of those times I have to teach myself to let go.
Let go of the todo list
Let go of the thought of a clean kitchen
Let go of a perfectly blended recipe
Let go of the fear of spilled ingredients
Let go of the idea of being in a hurry
The list could go on and on, and to be honest, I am not great at letting go. But I’m trying.
As they get older it gets a little easier. For example, when we did our Christmas baking this past year I was pretty much just a facilitator. My job was melting chocolate, getting utensils, and overseeing tasks, but everything else they pretty much took over.
embrace their independence
Therefore, when we had a muffin exchange amongst some of their friends I thought it would be a great time to practice this scary thought of turning over my kitchen to a 10 and 7 year old. It must also be said that was timing of this party was during a super busy season where free hours were very hard to come by. However, we made it work. I told the girls I would help them find and read a recipe, but they were going to do all the work. It was late in the evening, and I sat at the counter reading the recipe while they prepared their muffins. They were so cute often repeating things I have told them over and over, or remembering things I have taught them like how to scoop and level off ingredients.
embrace the lack of time…
There is never going to enough time for everything. I am going to say that again so I really hear it… There is never going to be enough time. As a mom of three with two jobs outside of the house I have to come to this realization (and I know I am not alone). I know there are others who are in the same boat, and we have to keep telling ourselves this over and over. I would love to be able to freeze time in order to get all of my “stuff” done, and then unfreeze and keep living. Since that is just not going to happen I often have to give myself a bit of a reality check… there is never going to be enough time for everything. However, this has also guided me to really look at how much time things will take. Sometimes we build up in our head much more than it’s actual going to be. In this case, I was tired and running out of time, but in reality it really did not take a whole lot so we just did it.
embrace your future self?
Lastly, I like to think about my future self. How will I feel in the future if I do or do not complete this task? This works wonders with my workout, but also with activities involving my children. In this case I knew we would all be happier that we did it, and that we got to spend a little time together.
I let the girls look at Pinterest and choose a recipe to use. These are the recipes they settles on…
Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
