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Here's a story!
Taprina Milburn, Tecumseh Countywide News
I've just been ushered out of my own kitchen – for the second day in a row.
My children are doing as I told them to do: "Find something other than television to occupy your time."
They have minded well. Pots and pans clang, and they're whipping up something that includes sugar, vanilla, V-8 juice, chocolate chips and whatever else looks like fun to mix together.
When I wandered into the kitchen, I witnessed a complete mess. I had to catch my breath and hold my tongue and walk outside to calm myself. Messes can be cleaned up, right?
"What are the coffee beans for?" I asked my son.
"I thought I'd crush them and put them in this soup."
Everything inside me wants to usher them out of my kitchen. To tell them to clean up the mess – the tomato paste on the stove, jelly and coffee beans on the floor, honey on the cabinet. But there's something going on in there – much more than mess making … I think.
They're consulting each other on recipe ingredients. They're humming together to a Garth Brooks song on the radio, and I hear the oldest making suggestions (bossing) as her brother makes his own suggestions (taking a stand for himself). They're participating in a similar activity (independence) but doing it their own way.
They've always loved the kitchen in their own way. When my oldest was about a year old, I figured out how to occupy her while I cooked dinner each night. I'd sit her down on the floor and hand her an empty bowl and a full bowl of uncooked beans. She'd methodically take one bean after another from the full bowl and place it into the empty bowl. Once the empty bowl was full, she'd start the whole process over. The youngest came along and I was sure this tactic would keep him busy too.
When he was old enough, I gave him a bowl of uncooked beans. He grabbed handfuls and threw them across the kitchen, squealing with delight.
From the looks of my kitchen today, things haven't changed much.
I don't like turning over my domain — I'd rather be right in the middle of what they are doing, and well … doing it for them or telling them how to do it without making a mess of things.
But a wise mother once told me that if I didn't allow children to learn a few things on t their own, to experiment with independence while under my roof, to even make mistakes and messes of things occasionally, well … they might not ever move out.
Cook on children!
I've just been called to the kitchen to put on my taste-tester hat.
Would you like to come for dinner?
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