Sunday, July 11, 2010

Cucumber Salad

Every time I am in the kitchen the girls want to help me. So, I have decided to try to teach them actual skills so they can become actually helpful. Robby has been growing cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. We have had a few tomatoes, one pepper, and tons of cucumbers. So, we eat cucumber salad almost every night. Using a non-sharp knife, we taught the girls how to cut cucumbers into small pieces:

It took Catherine a good thirty minutes to cut up one cucumber. But, that gave me time to clean the kitchen, make the rest of dinner and set the table while she was occupied. It is so much easier to just do the task then teach a toddler how to do it. But, I have to constantly remind myself that the girls will never learn these tasks if I do not let them do it. I pray for patience every day as they take forever to complete normal household chores at a snail's pace.

I only gave Sabrina a few pieces to cut, which she did. Then, she ate the pieces she cut. So, her contribution to the salad was limited. Alright, non-existent. But, she gained some knife skills and ate a few pieces of a vegetable!
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1 comment:

Tina said...

It is so hard for me to involve mine sometimes too but you are right...sooo important. Sometimes I feel like pleeease go play and just let mommy get this done. But, they get such joy out of learning a new thing and doing what mommy is doing or being the big helper.