baby steps

Recently I've been thinking about how I need to be teaching my kids how to become more familiar with household chores. They know how to vacuum, empty the trash and the dishwasher, and Taylor mows the lawn, but I want them to be able to sustain themselves should I die in the night. So, I told the big kids that it was going to be their responsibility each week to come up with a dinner idea. They have to look at the recipe with me and make a grocery list and then help prepare the meal. Eventually it will be their responsibility to prepare the meal themselves, but we're working on baby steps here.

Paige started us off on our new plan and chose her favorite "Toasted Paigey's". That would be tostadas - but a take on what Todd's mother used to call "Toasted TODD-o's" for his benefit. As far as meals go, we started out small, but it IS her favorite. As we prepped for the meal, she opened the can of refried beans, opened the box of pre-made tostada shells, I cut the lettuce, and she grated the cheese. It's a small step, but she really concentrated on that cheese.

She did a great job and felt good about her contribution to making dinner for the family.

Taylor decided to go with his favorite pesto pasta with chicken. Again, we're not much for gourmet cooking, we're just happy to get fed. The pre-cooked grilled chicken strips were frozen and needed to be re-heated and Taylor went about the gruelling task of boiling the water and cooking the pasta. I drained the boiling pasta and he combined the pre-made pesto from Costco with the chicken and pasta. Voila. Dinner is served.

Baby steps.

'So Taylor, do you think you could do this on your own next time?'

'Nah.'

'What if you were starving and I wasn't home?'

'Nope.'

'What if I moved and you never saw me again. What would you eat?'

'I'd just eat cereal.'

'Forever?'

'Forever.'