Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Kids in the kitchen

     Ahhhh...what a difference having water in the morning makes!! You would think I went without it for a week or something.
     I did not exercise yesterday, but I did eat well, and I drank half of my quota of water.
     I still have this "cold." But, I am feeling much better even though I am still needing the inhaler a couple of times a day.
     OK, so dinner has actually been fun lately because as part of Cody's senior project, he is learning to make all of his favorite meals.
     The really great thing is that he is so serious about this. He made enchiladas a couple of nights ago, and seriously they were even better than mine.
     Cody's project started me thinking about how sad it is that many of our kids today have NO idea how to cook. And, many schools no longer fund a Home Ec program.
     We have an entire generation of people who don't know how to cook, clean, wash clothes, and even make minor sewing repairs like re-attching a button.
     The other thing I remember about Home Ec is that we also talked a lot about nutrition and health.
     Cody and I have been talking about how we can change certain recipes and make them less calories or lower in fat. We have just talked a lot about options.
     The other day I asked kids how many times a week they eat dinner at the table with the family, and I wasn't really surprised (more sad than anything) that very few kids even sit at the table one day a week.
     I totally understand having BUSY lives, believe me. But, at the same time, our kids should be our priorities!
     This whole project of Cody's makes me want to teach Jordie how to cook right now and not wait until he is on his way off to college.
     What really interests me is that when they were little (like my step-daughter) they did cook with me (just like my step-daughter does), but I am not sure where the point is that they stopped.
     Even though I have always cooked dinner, I never made it a priority to actually teach my kids when they were old enough to remember what we were doing. Of course, I did not learn how to cook growing up either, but rather I learned as an adult.
     But, I am changing that now.

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