Cooking with Kids: Introduction

Introduction

Kate Heyhoe Greetings! I wrote Cooking with Kids for both you and your children—my goal is to get you side-by-side, into the kitchen and dining room, enjoying delicious and nutritious meals, snacks, and even sweet-to-eat treats that the whole family can pitch in and make together.

Sound challenging? It doesn't have to be. This book can help even the busiest parents find stress-free methods for bringing their kids into the kitchen regularly, jumping beyond the occasional rainy-day "let's make cookies" sessions. And because every family is different, this book is packed with a wide range of techniques, some of which are sure to work for your special brood.

In fact, many of the tips in this book come directly from several hundred families—many may have some similarities to your own. These families discovered that by bringing their kids into the daily activities of cooking, dining and shopping together, they actually improved their quality of life and became closer.

Busy parents, however, tell me that they face three very stubborn challenges:

Fixing meals that are nutritious.
Creating time-saving meals.
Spending quality-time with their kids.

The good news is that families have come up with innovative ways to conquer these challenges—you can find many of these ideas in the pages ahead.

I adore the families that contributed to this book! They're warm, cuddly, happy, creative—and very, very real. Some of them I've known for years as part of my talented Web site staff at the Global Gourmet, the first food and cooking magazine launched on the Internet in 1994. But many of the parents and children who contributed to this book are readers like yourselves. They've sent me e-mails over the course of two years, eagerly sharing their experiences, and looking themselves for better ways to feed and spend time with their own loved ones.

Kate Heyhoe