Packing School Lunches and Kitchen Skills

[SarahBear]

Violet is going to Kindergarten next fall and I'm thinking about how she'll have to have a packed lunch every day. Violet is good at planning and organizing, so I'm thinking about working on her being as independent as possible with packing her lunch. I'll need to work with her on some kitchen skills though. She doesn't prepare any foods on her own and it seems like as she approaches school age, this should change. At what age did you start working on this with your kids? On a slightly different topic, at what age did you work on your kid learning to wash dishes?

 

[minties]

Sophie is the same age as Violet, she can make sandwiches and prepare cereal (sometimes the milk is tricky) and she has been washing dishes daily for about 8 months. This is how she earns pocket money.

Her dish washing isn't spectacular, and often the floor gets a bit wet, but she tries really hard.

 

[Wobbles]

I don't let mine near the dishes ... I like them in one piece but they help round the house with other things and quite happily prep their own breakfast and lunch, they enjoy too. I get a selection of bits in and they often choice what to put in their pack lunchboxes.

 

[SarahBear]

Violet does do some stuff... when we have hamburgers, she puts her own condiments on and is probably capable of things like "making" cereal. The cereal is out of her reach though. Leo has no trouble pulling up a chair and getting into cabinets that are out of reach, but for whatever reason, Violet has never done this. We should probably also put the toaster in a spot that's easier for her to get to. She does like toast and that would be easy for her to make for breakfast. As for lunches, she doesn't often eat sandwiches, but a PB&J shouldn't be too hard for her to learn how to make. She likes avocados and those are easy. Just cut in half and scoop out with a spoon. She's not very good at cutting, but we could work on it. She likes cheese (but not cheddar), so we could get pre-sliced cheese and she could get it out and put it in a baggie as part of a packed lunch. I think her biggest barrier to using the kitchen is just that it's a bit too cluttered. There is so little counter space and not very many cabinets, so things end up piling up.

 

[Natsku]

Maria makes her own breakfast (toast usually, sometimes cereal, sometimes yoghurt and muesli) and I started teaching her to cook when she turned 6 but I've been slacking on it since I got pregnant.
She doesn't wash the dishes but she does empty the dishwasher when needed. I really should get her to do regular chores though, she is acting a bit too spoilt lately!