Some of my fondest memories of my childhood include sitting on the kitchen counter while my mom cooked. I can still see that old kitchen in my childhood Texas home and remember the sight of my mom rushing around to get the food on the table. I loved that time with her and I loved watching her cook. She always worked so quickly and efficiently (and she still does) and everything of course tasted amazing. She was a real "Susy Homemaker" kind of mom.
Now that I am grown and have my own children, I see more and more what a sacrifice of time that was for my mom. See, I love to cook. It's often my haven and in the midst of a crazy evening, John will take over the parenting duties so I can prepare dinner. Now that Brooke is becoming more interesting in the workings of the kitchen, she now sits on the counter or stands on a chair and "helps" me cook. Can I cook much quicker and possibly better on my own? Absolutely. But, I love my daughter more than cooking and if her sitting in on this sacred time makes her feel as special as I did as a little girl, then so be it! I also like to think that these are the very early stages of me teaching Brooke how to keep a home and take care of her family one day. I know that I learned all that I know from my mom doing the same thing!
Lately I've been making it a point to make things with Brooke more often. Just the other day we made chocolate chip cookies together and she was actually very helpful in rolling them into balls! Although, once she saw me eating the batter I had a hard time getting her to stop eating it. Bad mommy! At other times, when we make less fun things, I give her her own bowl with some water and a spoon and she stirs it and says, "Can I boil it?" So sweet! Today we made homemade buttermilk biscuits and she got to measure out all of the flour, baking soda, baking powder, etc... We had the most fun together! It's a great learning tool, too, because we're constantly counting things when we're in the kitchen. Today I needed 2 cups of flour for a recipe and I purposely used 1/4 cup 8 times so she would have to count it out. It takes more time and effort, but it's quality time with my girl that I'm after!
20 years from now or so, I sure hope that my girls can look back at their childhoods and see just how much their mommy loved them. Little investments of time sometimes are the ones that mean the most!
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