Monday, July 13, 2009

A Tour of Duty: The kitchen



Last weekend got me thinking that we should have scheduled a stint in the kitchen as part of the things we teach our children. We should have them shadow us, learn and practice dinner preparation during the early teen years. Now looking back, I think that would have relieved some of the angst I felt last weekend.

So this is the thing. My daughter is in Argentina and she wanted her July 4th foods. You know the things we gorge ourselves on for the celebration; fried chicken, BBQ, mc and cheese, potato salad, need I go, on! Argentina is not; well where she is, there is no fried chicken or ‘American fare,’ unless she makes it. So what is a strong, red blooded American girl to do? She prepares her own feast. Hence my dilemma! This is MY dilemma, not hers, by the way. She planned along with me and was fully prepared to take this on.

So she will be …….come on you know this! Yeah she is making fried chicken, Mac and cheese and potato salad. We’re not from Texas but we go large. She will be making all three her self, by herself for the first time. I gave all of the directions, ingredients and everything to do the job. I cautioned her too many times to watch the stove, the knife etc. My daughter humors me! Y’all know I’m a worry wart – especially when it comes to my kids. They always prove me wrong, thank God! But I can’t help wanting to make everything go nice and easy for them.

My issue is this; breakfast is big for us so she can hold her own with a good hearty breakfast, lunch/brunch etc. Dinner on the other hand, well, that was me. Reservations or the local fast food restaurant was their thing. Well burgers, salad, grills etc they could handle but making a full meal like this, no! So this is a first and a big one and she is far away with the phone and email, I gave her all the tips I could via electronic medium and hoped for the best.

The message or lesson here is this; we know that these days will come so we have to prepare them. Insist on scheduling a few sessions in the kitchen to work on meats and other big items where it takes several steps and processes if they are not willing to volunteer. They may find themselves far away from home and have the need to eat something that is not readily available in the stores and we will have regrets. The kids think differently, by the way.

I was visiting Life's Free Treats, one of my favorite blogs yesterday. She had a recent post, “Some Thoughts on being a MOTHER” which really hit home with me. One key point of her post on mothering is this; do it to the best of your ability. I so agree with her.

Some of you may say, wean the kids already, or get a life! Yeah you’re right but I still think that I can be helpful and want to be helpful, not interfere, but helpful. It is kind of late for us now but maybe we can work on the grand’s.

By the way – as I said my kids generally prove me wrong when I fret about them. She said the meal was a big hit. She got rave reviews from her friends! Why do I worry, huh?!

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