Write your own recipes - a great learning opportunity!


Something sparked our girls interest recently - perhaps the start of the new Masterchef series on TV - and they sat down together and made up some of their own recipes!





This has provided a great learning opportunity as we manage to catch and ride this wave of interest!  They used their skills of spelling, instructions (both writing and following), estimating weights, creativity, cooking skills and predictions!



The first recipe to get tested was this one:
Our younger daughter (aged 7) wrote this one and wanted to try it out for her school lunch one day.  So she did!  With this one, we just went with the idea, and didn't manage to measure her 5g to show her how much that was, as we were trying to get ready for school!!
Another day when we have a little more time we'll look at their measurements!




Then this weekend - our elder daughter made dessert for all the kids (we had friends round).  She followed her recipe, and created a very tasty dish that was gobbled up in no time!



Who knows how long this latest interest will last, but it's definitely one to enjoy while it does - especially when it produces such tasty desserts!!

Do your kids like cooking? Do they like following recipes in books, or creating things themselves?








It's nice to be appreciated!


I'm sure every mother having spent time cooking dinner for their family, has then had instead of thanks, comments like...
"oh no, I thought we were having...."
"I don't want to have that."
"I don't like that."

I'm sure I myself was guilty of this as a kid too (sorry Mum!!)

Last night I got a comment like that - and had had others over the weekend.  I'd had enough and angrily snapped back that I'd spent time cooking a meal for everyone, the least I could have was a little appreciation!

Everyone looked suitably embarrassed, but my younger daughter just said,

 "After dinner look inside the note I gave you."

(She had handed me a folded piece of paper as I was cooking, but told me not to read what was inside until after dinner).

We all ate dinner, then after I'd finished, I went to read the note.  Here's what I found...


Now who's embarrassed!!!
She wrote this before she knew what was for dinner, and before she had tasted it.

We all say things sometimes without thinking about their effect on others.  We are just voicing our feelings, not deliberately being mean.
 Yes we need to teach our kids to be tactful and mindful of other's feelings, but we also need to encourage them to express their feelings and thoughts.  They need to know that they can tell us when they don't like things, or they aren't happy.

When kids complain about what's for dinner, they aren't criticising the cook, they're just stating the fact that they would prefer something else to eat, or they don't like part of what's on their plate.

I know our kids wouldn't say they didn't like dinner if they were at a friend's house as a guest for dinner. I know they would politely eat what they were given.  They do however need somewhere where they feel comfortable expressing their true feelings without being snapped at for doing so!

We spend a lot of time teaching our kids manners, and how to behave; but sometimes they have things to teach us too!





Little lifesavers



During the last school holidays, our girls took part in a short course at the lagoon here in Cairns to be 'little lifesavers'.  It was a chance for the kids to have a taste of what the Nippers programme is like.

Here in Australia, "Girt by sea" as we are (in the words of our National Anthem!), the Surf Life Saving association has a junior development programme which is very popular with kids all around the country.

This 3 day taster course took place in our lagoon rather than in the sea itself, which was great!  Our girls aren't too sure about going in the sea off the beach here, thanks to the ever present threat of stingers (jellyfish) and crocodiles!  I can quite understand their reticence!

The course was a great combination of fitness, fun and basic surf life saving skills.  They got to race for the 'flags' where they lie in a row face down on the sand, then all stand up, turn round and race to grab a small baton further along in the sand; learn about the various jellyfish found up here in Far North Queensland; learn the basics of CPR; rescue the above orange 'people' and most exciting of all for all the kids was getting to paddle around on the surfboards!

All the kids thoroughly enjoyed the course - helped immensely by the beautiful weather we had that week as you can see from the pictures.  At the end they got to keep the sun shirts but not the cute little lifesavers hats!  They also got certificates and the course ended with a big sausage sizzle and some fun burying the instructors in the sand!

This was a fantastic experience for our girls to have.  It may not be something they will join up to, but it has given them an idea of what it's about and what all our fabulous Surf Life Savers do on the many beautiful beaches we have here in Australia.  It was a great way to try something out without having to commit to a whole term of an activity.

What great 'taster' experiences have you or your kids had?




Focus vs diversity


One of my favourite kids books is Dr Seuss's 'Green Eggs and Ham'.

When our girls were younger, I used to read it to them a lot,enjoying the rhythm and fun of the words, but also the idea in the story of giving something new a try.

I even gave the girls green eggs and ham to eat a couple of times (green food colouring in scrambled eggs). They loved it when we put the lights out while we were eating, "would you, could you in the dark?"

Our girls are pretty good at trying new foods now - but it's not just foods that kids, and indeed adults should try something new in.  I believe it's important to try all kinds of new things - new places to visit, new and different ways to do routine things,  make new friends, try new activities.  After all, 'variety is the spice of life'.

We do try to encourage our girls to try new things at school. Especially at a young age, it's important to give things a try, to see where your interests lie.  Sometimes it's daunting to try something new when you've no idea how to play the game, or throw the ball, and perhaps none of your friends are trying it out.  It takes courage to put yourself out there and try, not being afraid or embarrassed to not be able to do something first time.
For kids particularly to try several different activities, sports, foods etc can help develop a wide base of skills and knowledge that will help them in their growth and development in future years.  Every experience as a child helps to open up new pathways in the brain making further study and efforts as they get older an easier process.

On the other hand, we also try to encourage our girls to stick at things.  When they do try something, we want them to give it a good go, not just try once and walk away.  I remember reading when they were very young, that sometimes it takes 10 tries of feeding babies and kids foods before they will eat them.   Again, not just with food, I think persistence is important. For example they may try a ball sport, and not be able to throw or kick the ball well on their first attempt.  We don't want them to just give up, we want them to try and try again - to learn a new skill, and gain that sense of satisfaction of doing something new, that boost in confidence that comes from mastering something new.

Once again it's all about finding a balance.  Trying new things, but also sticking at things to grow and develop a skill and love for something.  How long kids should try things for will depend on their enjoyment and ability, and also on rewards and motivation.  Our youngest daughter tried rock and roll dancing for one term a couple of years ago. She loved it and was good at it. However, after one term, she didn't want to continue - wanting instead to try a different kind of dance at another school.  This dancing both our girls did for a year.  A big motivation for sticking it out for the full year, was that if they did, they would get a trophy at the end of it, which they did, after which they were happy to move on to something else the next year.

With our kids, our younger daughter is the adventurous one who always wants to try something new.  Perhaps this comes from being the younger sibling and always watching her older sister and family friends doing things when she was too young to join in.  She wants to try everything she sees!
Our elder daughter on the other hand, is more one to find something she likes and stick to it.   She does have a clear love for one sport above others - swimming.   I wonder if she will reach a stage or age where she doesn't want the variety of other sports and wants to focus on just one.  I suppose this is a natural progression for kids to find and pursue their interests.  But is there an age when they are too young to be so focussed?

I have often wondered if the child who is obsessed by trains at a young age for example - grows up to be a train driver, or at least work in the train industry.  I never had that kind of lasting and consuming interest as a child, and as an adult, haven't had a focussed career either. As a child,  I went through several different ideas of what I wanted to 'be' when I grew up.   So far, our girls are the same - they've gone from wanting to be fairies, to vets to artists and who knows what else will catch their interest over the years.

My view is that we as parents should encourage our children to see and experience as much variety as they can, but also to encourage and foster particular interests they show. If they love something enough to want to focus solely on that then we should support that too.

Do you encourage your children to try new activities and sports?  If they show an aptitude and enjoyment for something, do you encourage them further or even push them a little to continue in this activity, or do you think it's more important to try lots of different things, rather than become focussed on one particular thing at a young age?