Village Kitchen: Teaching Teamwork and Honoring Influencers April 16, 2010

“Village Building” is important to me because I was raised to believe that our family is part of “the village”. Teamwork is important to us also because we were taught that we can get the best results when we all do our own parts and work well together.

Some of my most fond memories were in Gary, Indiana in Grandmommy Ernestine’s kitchen with her, my aunts and mommy. We would all work together to get our holiday meals ready. As my grandparents aged, the holiday parties moved to my beautiful Aunt Genevieve’s home. Truly these are some of the best and most vivid memories in my life. They make me smile.

I also remember how our “village” always came together – with neighbors sharing food, looking out for and helping one another. This was especially true as the adults in the neighborhood got older. Grandmommy would look out for her ill next door neighbor, cook for her and go and sit with her. I see the same thing now with my parents and their neighbors, as well, in Chicago and Charlotte. I am also grateful that we have good neighbors here in Atlanta who are generous and look out for us, as we do for them.

In our home, we are elated that our kids are old enough to understand the importance of teamwork and help more in the kitchen, and in the house overall now. I find myself constantly flashing back to helping out with dishes and house chores so the adults could focus on preparing some of the best food known to man. Yes, there are few on Earth who can throw down like our family does. I don’t believe this is at all biased or exaggerated, just ask my brother, Michael, and all of our cousins.

Just as my family took time to impart the kitchen basics to me, our oldest kids have also been learning their way around in there. At this point, we are able to trust them more to keep their hands clean and use hygenic and sanitary practices in the kitchen. Our oldest enjoys helping prepare the pasta and rice for many of the meals, and helping with other simple dishes, as well.

We seem to have fallen into an actual system in our kitchen. Everyone pretty much has their own chores, and generally speaking, makes the effort to contribute when we are all working together as a team. Being hungry is a good motivator for teamwork, as well. I know it was for me when I was young! LOL!

Also, now that the older kids can read pretty well, we have been teaching them more about the meal planning process – from preparing the weekly meal plan and shopping list all the way down to preparing a balanced plate.

Here are some great resources that have been helpful for our kids’ kitchen learning journey:

*the “power plate” and “food pyramid” guides posted on our refridgerator door help with understanding how to eat a balanced meal

*the older children each have a copy of a weekly meal plan form and are expected to fill it out with whatever they’d like to have for meals; then we sit and discuss it with the other family members and come to an agreement

*then we write up our shopping list on a paper turned sideways and folded into four sections; after we double-check the cabinets, we fill in the sections of the list according to how the grocery store is organized (i.e., frozen, fresh, canned, bakery, dairy, etc.)

Giving Honor to our Influencers, Past and Present

I must give thanks to God for increasing my wisdom in the kitchen daily and also must give credit to some of my most notable food influencers:

–Kid Cultivators Homeschool group

–various food and mom blogs I’ve read, some of which you can find links for under “BOOKMARKS” at wwahhmpreneur.com

–my mom, grandmommy, and daddy – all of whom were my first kitchen teachers

–my friends Marjory, Tanya, Nicki, Lexis, Alby and many other family and friends who have shared their tricks, tips and even a few secrets here and there

–last but not least, I am thankful for my encouraging, and prayerful, husband and kids who have been willing to allow me to experiment and keep growing into a better cook over these past 10+ years

Truly, all of these folks make up our “village kitchen”. Though most are not physically with us here very often, their collective influence dwells in every morsel.

Who are the influencers who have made up your “village kitchen”, both past and present? Do you use meal preparation to teach your kids about principles of teamwork? How do you use holidays and other special events and times to teach your kids about family and community?

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Here is a tool that could make family cooking time even more fun:

America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking

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