Your kid, my kid

Last weekend, The Wall Street Journal ran a feature written by psychology professor Alison Gopnik about the teenage brain. While we’ve heard much of it before (prefrontal lobes, puberty vs maturity, information vs wisdom, reward centers of the brain) this grabbed me: At the same time, contemporary children have very little experience with the kinds of tasks that they’ll have to perform as grown-ups. Children have increasingly little chance to practice even basic skills like cooking and caregiving. 

Your teen's room?

I just heard several of you mumble, “Yeah, right, like sonny is going to cook dinner? He barely remembers to brush his teeth,” or “She can’t make her bed, how’s she going to make lunch?”

If our goal is to raise competent adults able to support themselves and live independently, aren’t good health habits important? And if you’re reading this, you’ll agree that a nutritious diet is key. So if you have a teen or really any age child, here’s a plan:

1. Have your child plan a single meal
2. Check to see they’ve included a fruit, a vegetable, a grain and a protein; milk’s a good beverage choice
3. If a recipe is going to be involved, help your child find a suitable one; flambé anything is ill-advised with this first meal
4. Have them check your food inventory to determine what needs to be purchased
5. From that, have them write a grocery list
6. Grocery shop together; basic information will be entirely new territory for him
7. Help your child estimate preparation time so all the food will be done at once
8. Serve as a polite sous chef and maybe even offer to set the table
9. Share clean up duties and discuss how it might be different (perhaps better) the next time

Truly, if kids aren’t given the chance to try the entire process from start to finish at home, where will they learn it? Out on the street? I mean, in a college dorm room? Make it a fun and positive experience for you both. Low expectations, lots of time, perhaps an adult beverage and you’ll both be better for it.

And happiest of birthdays to our teen today:))

Mom