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elleng

(130,714 posts)
Sun Nov 26, 2017, 02:10 PM Nov 2017

What Children and Parents Can Learn From Baking Together

'There’s a picture that I keep in the left-hand corner of my computer screen, of me and my son, Joshua, who is now grown, baking together years ago. It shows me bent over the kitchen counter gingerly disengaging a bell-shaped cookie from a large piece of dough. It looks as if it might have been gingerbread. Joshua — age uncertain, less than 3, I’d say — is standing on the stool we bought for just this job. He’s holding a cookie cutter, and there are more scattered about. We both have flour on our fingers; Joshua has some in his hair and on his sleeve, too. We’re both concentrating intently.

We baked together regularly but rarely took pictures. I wish we’d taken more. If we had, I think I would have seen us growing older, but not different. In the gingerbread picture, I recognize the curve I still make over the counter and the way Joshua holds his head when he’s focused, the way he keeps his arms close to his body when the task is intricate.

Our silhouettes would be the same today, and we would probably be doing the same things. Playing with the dough a little longer than any recipe would recommend. Molding miniature figures from the scraps. Licking bowls, spoons and fingers. Piling dishes in the sink and leaving them for later. Sitting on the floor in front of the oven window, watching our work rise, turn golden and set. Snatching hot cookies from the rack. Smiling, happy to be together in the warm room with the fragrance of butter and sugar and spice around us.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/magazine/what-children-and-parents-can-learn-from-baking-together.html?

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What Children and Parents Can Learn From Baking Together (Original Post) elleng Nov 2017 OP
I have a picture on my office wall of my great granddaughter standing Arkansas Granny Nov 2017 #1
When my older son was in pre-school PoindexterOglethorpe Nov 2017 #2

Arkansas Granny

(31,506 posts)
1. I have a picture on my office wall of my great granddaughter standing
Sun Nov 26, 2017, 02:21 PM
Nov 2017

in front of the stove, wearing her apron and waiting for the cake we made to come out of the oven.

I have baked and cooked with my children and grandchildren over the years. It can be a bit of a mess, but the memories are priceless (and the cookies are good, too).
🎂🍪🍰

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,811 posts)
2. When my older son was in pre-school
Sun Nov 26, 2017, 03:23 PM
Nov 2017

and they did one of those "All about me" booklets to send home, the page for what he liked best to do with mom was simply, "Cream". It actually took me a couple of weeks to realize he was referring to creaming the butter and sugar together when we made cookies.

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