Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Kids in the Kitchen

The is an article I wrote on request by Kidconnect Magazine. They ask me to write about kids in the kitchen, organizing their stuff, getting snacks etc.  I thought I did a good job and wrote it to what they requested. They wrote back to me saying that it is not what they wanted and good luck with my writing.  Oh well, they were not paying me anyway.

                                                              Kids in the Kitchen

The first thing I need to say is that I don’t have any children and I have never had children. However I work with people in my business that have children and I have done a lot of babysitting.  When I walk into a home for the first time that has children, parents say that the house is like this because they have kids. I remember when I was in high school babysitting four children one evening. The house was a wreck and I knew Mom was at the end of her rope and if she did not get out of the house something bad was going to happen.  I am not OCD or a neat freak by any means but this was ridiculous. The first thing I did was put the kids to work. I said we need to do something nice for your Mom so why not clean up the house? That went over big.  So we made a game out of it. We had a race to see who could clean up faster, we had a Star Trek trivia contest while we worked and what  do you know, the kitchen and living room where cleaned up. The kids were in bed and I was watching Johnny Carson when Mom and Dad can home. I was a hero, but the kids did the work.

The children where between 4 and 8 and able to take on more responsibility. When children are very small parents have a tendency to child proof the home within an inch of its life but once they get older there may be a shift in thinking. Now is the time to move the plates and bowls (yes, the breakable kind!) to the bottom cabinets and the pots and pans to the upper ones. Presto! Thanks to this switcheroo, kids were able to unload the dishwasher and put items away.  

Children learn what they see not what they are told.  The best way to have a productive, no stress home is to give children a set of rules, routines and boundaries in the kitchen as well as the rest of the home.  By learning this they can connect with food, the home, and cleaning if they know what is expected of them and when. 



We all know that kitchens can become cluttered and look messy very fast. It’s a high traffic space that requires solid organization in order to stay clean. Get the kids involved in the decluttering so they can learn what is important. Get rid of unnecessary stuff which includes appliances and dishes. Sort out the things that will go to a yard sale or storage and the things that will be used every day.



Choose drawers and cabinets so kids can access what they need without bothering you while you are fixing dinner and you can still watch what they are doing.  Organize the existing drawers carefully with the children in mind.  Choose cabinets that will suit your kitchen style but will also suit you and your children’s needs



What started as a bid to get more help may give kids greater freedom. Sure, they stowed dishes — but they also retrieved them to set the table or make a snack. They enjoyed getting more involved, and Mom feels less like an underappreciated short-order cook.

Many hands lighten the load--and to enlist the maximum number of hands, you'll want to make your kitchen accessible to even the smallest members of the family. Here are a view tips for kids to help around the house:

1.     Label leftovers using nontoxic dry-erase markers to call attention to lunch and snack possibilities in the fridge

2.     Teach kids to clean up their own spills with color-coded cloths, hung in an accessible spot.

3.     Store takeout menus and the latest pizza coupons in a three-ring binder fitted with plastic sleeves.

4.     Buy plastic bins in a variety of colors and assign one to each family member. Anything cluttering up valuable space (counter, table, or floor) gets whisked into the appropriate bin for disposal or redirection by its owner at some later date. I like this one a lot!

5.     Limit the number of magnets to only what is necessary like the school lunch menu. Too many magnets make the whole kitchen look messy. Rotate in and out your kids’ outstanding art work so the important stuff can be seen.

6.     Check out a place for a family calendar or bulletin board.

Another unexpected benefit of our newly kid-friendly kitchen is that kids can practice hospitality. After playing out in the yard, their entourage of pals can make themselves at home in the kitchen by helping themselves to drinks served from the cups alongside the  plates and bowls and you will be delighted to hear your kids turning on the tap and asking their friends, "Do you want ice with that?"

Stay tuned for more tips and information on organizing, closets, laundry rooms, kid’s rooms and doing chores along with answers to your questions.