Involving children at home in the kitchen promotes calm, stimulates creativity and trains self-esteem. Find out here what benefits it has and why start doing it
Children at home? Cooking with your children can be a constructive way to spend time with your family. «Preparing recipes and dishes helps to relax because it engages the mind. In addition, it gives satisfaction because we cook for the people we care most about, "he comments Rosanna Schiralli, psychotherapist psychologist, creator together with his colleague Ulisse Mariani of the method of emotional education. Sharing the preparation of recipes and dishes with the people we love is a real nourishment for our emotional well-being. «For example, seeing children happy to mess and read in their eyes the wonder they feel is a real cascade of substances of calm, well-being and pleasure in our brain. It favors the production of oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine ", continues the expert.
How to involve children in the kitchen
"You can start getting them involved in the kitchen as early as the age of 2. In the beginning, to stimulate their participation, it is important to prepare a special recipe such as a dessert, meatballs, biscuits or croissants. Especially in the early days it is essential to stimulate their curiosity and their desire to "venture" into something new. First let's prepare the shopping list together. During the preparation it is fundamental then to encourage and gratify them as they perform the different operations, saying how useful their help is , explains the psychologist Rosanna Schiralli.
Cooking together helps them grow
The kitchen can be a real growth gym for children. "The elements that come into play in this experience are manifold both from the emotional-emotional point of view and from that of learning and sensory, motor and intellectual development. Shared emotions, for example, make the child grow up in a playful, creative and peaceful atmosphere. Cooking can also be an excellent stimulus for the senses, motor skills and intellect. Following the realization of a recipe, the child trains to smell and taste. Learn to distinguish them gradually. It also learns new terms and concepts. Then cultivate creativity and inventiveness. Train your focus and attention. Finally, learn the importance and value of waiting. All this contributes to improving self-esteem and acquiring greater autonomy, "says psychologist Rosanna Schiralli.
Would you like to know more? In the gallery you will find 5 useful tips to involve children in the kitchen
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