Can I help?

That question can cause almost every parent to run and hide.  I know, I know, it is so much easier to do things without the help of little ones.  Trust me, I know!  I can get those pancakes made in half the time and half the mess.  There were days when my children were little that I would secretly think, please don't realize I am cooking, I really don't want any help!   I am ashamed to admit there were times I even sent them out!  Believe it or not they still grew to be well balanced, productive adults.  But admit it,  it takes so much more time and it really can be a huge mess.  There are some days we want to say, No, you may not help.

The plus side to letting your kids help is that it is a great time for accidental learning.  It's a natural time for them to observe you reading non-fiction, like a procedural text on how to put together a shelf unit.   You are modeling how to follow step 1, step 2 and so on.  You might even have the opportunity to model what happens if a step is skipped!  In this example, additionally you are introducing your child to the vocabulary of tools.  It's really very easy to say, Oh the directions tell me to hammer this nail into the back of this piece.  Hmm, I need to rotate this piece so the holes line up.  This screwdriver will work on these screws.   Let me check the directions again to see what I do next. 


When you let your child help with cooking, not only are you increasing their oral language but the math opportunities are endless.  Think of all the measurement terms they are learning.

As adults 80% of what we read in a given day is nonfiction or informational text and only 20% is fiction.  Typically in most schools it's reversed, 80% of what kids read is fictional and 20% is informational or nonfiction.   It is more true with little kids. With this being the case, we need to make sure we are not only exposing our children to nonfiction but inviting them to help us when we are reading and following directions and recipes.  Even if they are young, like 2, they can still observe and absorb.

So bring on the help with those pancakes!