Alison Curtis: Cooking up a plan to help my daughter to be happy and healthy

Pic: Marc O'Sullivan

This week we moved into a lovely rental house that will be our base for the next six months. The one thing I looked forward to most when we knew we were moving to this particular house was the kitchen.

For the last number of years we have been functioning in our of a galley kitchen and it increasingly became more awkward and basically annoying. There wasn’t enough space for two of us to cook in it at the same time or enough counter space to make meals for more than the three of us with any degree of ease.

Also, I really felt Joan and I were missing out on baking and cooking time as every time we did we would end up getting annoyed with one another for taking up too much space or something would inevitably fall or spill and I would be the one most likely getting irritated. 

In the rental, the kitchen has a massive stainless steel island with a cooker, sink, and loads of counter space all built-in. Heaven!

One evening when we were talking about our move I said to Joan: “You know what, I think you are really going to learn to cook in this new place!” Her eyes lit up and we started to talk about delicious things we would make.

Fast forward a few weeks and we are in the new place and on the first night, we were able to set up two chopping boards, grab loads of veggies, and crank Little Mix on the radio. It was glorious! We had loads and loads of space to chop away beside each other and work in tandem getting plates and pots ready.

I was also able to safely watch her learn to work confidently with a knife and learn to chop and cut in different ways.

Another thing that has been so good for Joan is the layout of cupboards means that she can now easily reach ‘her food.’ Cereals, snacks, fruit and all the rest — this leads to increased independence and allows her to take more control over what and when she eats.

In our old kitchen, again due to lack of space, everything was placed up high and crammed into cupboards so it wasn’t really fair on Joan to navigate pulling out loads of glass jars or bags of flour to get to what she wanted.

I really think it is so so important for kids to know how to cook and to make healthy food. To know where their food comes from, how to prepare it, and most of all to have an input into what they eat.

I know throughout the years Joan has been much more likely to eat her dinner if she has had a say in what it is and even more so if she has contributed to making it.

My sister and I never learned to cook growing up. As modern as my mother was in so many ways, I think she felt it was just her role to make all our meals. As a result, we both went off to university with little to no skills in the kitchen. I know my mom meant well looking after us in this way, but it really didn’t benefit us in the long run. 

I am still not a whizz in the kitchen but over the past number of years I have worked to improve and I am determined that Joan, when she is older, is going to be a confident cook.

Just last night Joan decided it was a soup night and she was a massive help in making her favourite: butternut squash soup. 

Again the radio went on full blast she looked after chopping the carrots and celery while I peeled the squash. We were honestly so happy, not arguing, nothing spilled, and we made a great team and a great soup!