While cooking together may often get overlooked, even if you are a bad cook, it has the benefits of bringing children, parents, and lovers together. Here are the benefits of cooking together and how you can make it work without clashing in the kitchen.

Benefits of cooking together

Creating a cooking experience that will help you bond is all about exploring and giving room for people to make mistakes. Of course, this comes with the disclaimer of making sure that you create a safe environment if you are cooking with children.

Give simple tasks to children or someone new to cooking. Make sure that the space you are operating in is clean and will prevent any slipping while you cook. Having children sit instead of walking around while they carry out the simple tasks will reduce the chances of them injuring themselves. If you are wondering what are the benefits that come with cooking together, they are:

Boosting confidence. Learning something together and trusting your participant in the kitchen with certain tasks can boost their confidence. Being part of something that creates something together, even if it doesn't turn out the way you intended, can make anyone feel proud. Remember to praise your participants efforts and gently steer them in the right direction when they go off. 

Gives you time to catch up. This could be verbal on non-verbal catching up where you get to share the same space while creating something. The ability to slow things down without any distractions is something that can often get overlooked. Make sure that you set the atmosphere by having some sweet tunes playing in the background. The aim is not to make this experience feel like a task but an experience.

Improving on maths skills. Not only does this help build basic life skills, but it can be especially useful for parents that are aiming to boost their child's maths skills. The measuring and counting of certain ingredients, along with going through a recipe together makes it easier for them to learn through a new experience.

Encouraging teamwork. Seeing how each of you handles certain situations in the kitchen can encourage teamwork and also finding ways to work better with each other. Remember to be encouraging and affirmative. Should things head south, always remember to be gentle and patient. No one wants a live Gordon Ramsey breathing down their neck, especially if they're new to the experience.

Making the experience worthwhile

Divide the tasks according to what a person can handle i.e the mixing and separation of products can be done by children but handling a knife can be dangerous. Sticking to a simple meal preparation at first and gradually making your way to the more advanced cooking experiences can be beneficial to everyone, especially in situations where you may both be new to the experience. Include simple things to make such as baking, making a salad, a pasta dish or simple handmade burgers. If at first, you don't succeed, you can always try again.