What Are Safe Kitchen Tasks for Young Children?

What Are Safe Kitchen Tasks for Young Children?

I still remember the first time my little nephew, Leo, “helped” me make cookies. He was barely three, standing on a kitchen stool that wobbled more than I’d like to admit, and his idea of helping was plunging both hands into the flour canister and clapping them together. Flour everywhere! On the counter, on the floor, on the dog, and especially on a very giggly Leo.

What Can My 4 Year Old Really Do to Help in the Kitchen

What Can My 4 Year Old Really Do to Help in the Kitchen

There’s a familiar scene in so many of our kitchens. You’re trying to get dinner on the table, focused on chopping onions, when a little voice pipes up from somewhere around your knees: “Can I help?” Your heart swells and sinks at the same time. You love their enthusiasm, but you see visions of flour clouds, cracked eggs on the floor, and a simple 30-minute meal turning into a 90-minute cleanup operation.