Simple but Hard: Zack's Job

We've made one of the major forays into "big kid" parenting. Allowance! Right now the boys have the option of doing one big extra chore each week to earn an allowance. Gabriel has declined, but Zack is very eager to take on the job. The boys have their "help the family" chores that are not monetarily compensated. Zack tidies his part of the room and sets the table for dinner. Gabriel tidies his part of the room and fills the water cups for dinner. Easy enough for now. Both boys seem to feel very grown up and responsible doing their chores.

Zack's allowance job is to plan, make a grocery list, and cook one meal each week. Of course I really do the bulk of the work for now, helping him come up with an idea, taking him around the kitchen and explaining what needs to be done, getting the groceries, and coaching him through the cooking. My goal is to let more and more of the real responsibility fall on him until he is adept at meal planning and cooking. We'll eventually work budgeting into the whole affair, but that's a few years down the road. This is so great because it teaches him all kinds of really useful lessons. We discuss nutrition for a well-rounded meal, math in measurements, timers, and temperatures, physics (we had a discussion about liquid, solid, and gas), forward thinking, etc. For all this work he gets (for now) Rp. 10,000 (just over 1 USD).

Zack's meal of choice this week was pizza. Big surprise. He's chosen PBJs for next week. Blech. As Wednesday next week gets close we'll talk about how to turn that into a well-rounded meal. I'm guessing he'll choose red peppers for a veggie as those are his favorite.

Pouring *carefully*

We learned about yeast and how it makes bread rise and that we need to "wake it up" with warm water and sugar.

We learned that it's very important to clean the kitchen as you go, so we're wiping up spills while the yeast activates.

Gabey claims he doesn't like to cook. Yeah right. :)

Concentrating very hard on the stirring.

Covering the dough to let it rise.

Enjoying the fruits of his labor. I don't have pictures of the dough pressing because it was too messy and I don't have pictures of putting on the toppings because Zack burned his finger trying to spread the sauce. :( He was, of course, holding a spoon full of tomato sauce when said finger was burned. Guess what ended up all over the kitchen?

Cooking with kids really is not my favorite thing. The kitchen is my sacred domain. It's my favorite place in the house and my creation space. But this is important. I'm praying for grace and patience so I can teach my kids what they need to know.

Here are our little herb seedlings just starting to sprout! Johnny got me a topsy turvy, those planters from the TV informercials, so I'm starting these little guys to put in it. I love fresh herbs. The boys love to water them and check to see their progress every day.