Kids in the Kitchen

Every night, without fail, as soon as we start cooking, the kids migrate to the kitchen, like there’s a secret siren alerting them to make their way to the center of the house as soon as we turn on the stove.

Because they’re so young, and there are things like knives and fire (from the stove), it always worries us a bit to have them in the kitchen with us while we cook. We usually try to distract them/tell them to go in the other room while we prepare dinner, and as hard as they try, they almost can’t help but coming back to the kitchen every five minutes. Maybe there’s some special magnet drawing them back again and again no matter how hard they try to resist? Who can say.

I (Thomas) was on the phone last night talking to my mom while making dinner, and I was telling her everything I’m telling you right now, and she said something that surprised me; something that hadn’t occurred to me before.

She told me to let them stay in the kitchen with us when we cook. She said they’re coming in there because they want to spend time with us, not just because they “can’t” stay out of the kitchen, and to find a way to entertain them while we’re doing our thing- give them a bag of rice to play with, ask them to hand us the pots/pans, etc. For some reason that hadn’t occurred to me before, but I nonetheless took her advice and let the youngest kiddo stay in the kitchen for bit the next time she came in there.

To my surprise, she actually began to entertain herself. She started taking all of the lids from the Tupperware cabinet and placing them at the end of the island, at first stacking them up ever so neatly, and then once they began to fall, she more or less just started dropping them in place. It was hilarious and bizarre all at the same time and I loved every minute of it.

After I told her to put them all away, as dinner was about ready, she said with determination and a smile, “YaYa” which means yes sir, and began to put them all in the cabinet where they came from. When I went in the living room to get the boys for dinner, I saw yet another little Tupperware lid pile stacked up (a little neater than the one in the kitchen) right in front of the coffee table. Baby girl was apparently as busy as I was.

It’s been a lot of fun the last 6 months to navigate parenthood and see what works for us, how we do things, finding a rhythm and routine that fits our family best. We learn and discover and realize something new every day, and it feels like we’re just getting started.