Baking with Children

     Children; all children of any age, love to help bake sweets.  You get the thrill of seeing basic ingredients transformed into a delicious desert, and you get all those tastes along the way. 
     I love having my children help me in the kitchen, if I'm not a hurry and the thing I'm making doesn't have to turn out just so.  I also have to remember to bring lots of patients.  There will be a mess, there will be little fingers grabbing everything in sight, and it will take five times longer than it would if you didn't have your little helpers, but really, it still can be fun.  It also helps if you are making something you are very familiar with and is an easy recipe to follow, as steps and ingredients can easily be left out when there are so many distractions.  And yes, there will be plenty of those too. 
    The other day we made an apple pie together.  This is a great thing to make with kids, because nothing has to be precisely measured out. 

     You will probably have to let your hygienic standards down a little.  Kids lick things and touch things, and that's OK.  Everything is going into a really hot oven soon.  And as far as raw eggs go, I do let my children eat cookie dough and lick cake batter, and neither me or my children have ever gotten salmonella.  So I say go for it.  After all, what is baking without the tastes.

     Let your children participate as much as possible,  but if something is a little tricky, it's alright to say, "This is a mommy job."

    And of course remember that you are making special memories with your children, that they will remember fondly their whole lives.  I know I have many warm memories of helping my mother in the kitchen.