Poll for the parentals

**Stinky!**

IHO EK and her egg-smashing.

Do you try to make everything into a learning experience for your kids? Or do you involve them in most aspects of your daily life?

I'm just trying to wrap my head around letting a kid make a complete mess of my kitchen in an effort to try and teach them how to crack an egg. Especially when the kid's... what? Two? Three years old? 

**O-Face**

She let them WASTE food?!?

katorigasuki

life is a classroom, and doesn't need to be forced.

i try to include miles in just about everything.  if i'm making something fairly simple for dinner, i'll let him help me.  he loves making pizza and pancakes. 

i'll take him grocery shopping with me so he can see how to shop, where our food comes from, and how to make choices.  he's 2, so i keep it very simple.  really i just talk to him the whole time.

 

AuntFlo

Yes and no. I mean, we have to put up with a mess while she's feeding herself. But if we don't let her try and allow the mess, then she'll never learn to feed herself. I have to explain this to DH every.damn.day, by the way. But 2-3 is too young to even grasp the concept of how fragile an egg is and how to crack one, IMO. That's just dumb. My step-bro and SSIL make everything a learning exp for their LO and it is so annoying. He's 18 months old and they already make every family trip an educational one. Just let a kid be a kid, have them observe your life, and they'll be fine. Once again, that's just my take on it.

jojobrn

my family are all the cooking kind and I don't think we've let my 5 year old niece start in on cracking eggs yet. I know I haven't at least. But she helps as she is able to and she had the chance to help me with my garden last year (planting and watering) and eat foos out of it, she especially liked the cucumbers.

 

And it sounds like EK isn't wasting those eggs. Even the ones he smashes onto the counter top. Sounds like she gets it into a bowl and picks out the shell no matter what. Ew.

mrs.conn23

Meh, we let the kiddo help out with stuff, but we don't designate anything as "OK this is your 'learning' experience time."

*Candi*

If an opportunity for her to help/learn pops up I include Autumn.

She loves to help me bake. If she sees me in the kitchen she grabs her apron and stool. I DO NOT let her crack eggs. I crack it and put it into a prep bowl and let her pour it into the mixer.

There will be no dropping it into a bowl and fishing out shell. My kitchen is not  Mythbusters set, FFS. 

Heffalump

A little of both, honestly.  She learns a lot through the daily business of life, but we've also been working more overtly on her vocab as her comprehension ramps up.  In fact, DH just called to say that if he holds up her fish, her rattle, and her ball, if he says the word for one of them, she looks straight at that object and then reaches for it.  Every time.  So far, our overt teaching has mainly been about teaching her names for everything.  She's picking up the rest on her own through observation and trial and error.

6fsn

Some stuff is learning, some is just free play.  6let is starting to be curious about what we do when we're making dinner.  One of us will hold him while the other cooks so he can see and we talk to him.  I'm trying to find a stepstool for him, but shorty has a ways to go.

We learned a lot in the kitchen- Fractions, multiplication (most recipes were doubled, tripled or quadrupled), addition, subtraction.  It never felt like learning though.

They learn a lot by watching too.  6let wanted the cat- he made the kissing sounds and patted the floor just like we do.