Weekly Dinner Menus - Put Your Kids in Charge

Are you tired of figuring out what's for dinner each night? Get the whole family involved using weekly dinner menus and fun training.

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Kids need to know how to run a household efficiently and effectively. As their parent, you are their first and best teacher. Learning how to plan out a weekly dinner menu and follow through on all the resulting steps is an excellent life skill that can benefit almost any age of child.

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-- Planning

Start with the menu itself. Using recipe books, recipe websites, or a menu planning service, determine what your next seven days of food will look like. Point out to your young teammates any busy schedules that may mean less time for cooking as well as dietary requirements or existing food on hand you want to use.

Making a list of your family's favorite meals is usually helpful at this point. One or two of your favorite meals will be welcome on your weekly menu. Make your grocery shopping list at this time.

-- Shopping

Plan a time and grocery shop with your child. Depending upon the age of child, you can teach price comparisons, serving amounts, and nutrition information. Plan on taking your time in the store, especially during this first shopping experience.

The real plus to this method is that as your child grows, you will eventually have a child who can shop on his own and make wise food and pricing decisions. Which is exactly what you want BEFORE you send your child off into the big wide world.

-- Cooking

Now it's time for the main event. Again, depending upon the age of your child let them cook and you supervise. Certainly plan to work alongside of them at first. Even very young children can sort and open packages. Older kids can prep ingredients and use the kitchen appliances (just remember adult supervision and safety first).

Talk about the chemistry involved in cooking. Where can efficiency be improved? What flavors work well together? Is measurement important in cooking? Why? Cooking together as a family is a rich resource for relationship building.

-- Cleaning

Well, that tasty meal is cooked, eaten and a memory now. But there's a bit more to do, isn't there? Again, teach valuable cleaning methods. There's nothing like cleaning up a meal to open eyes to better and less messy cleaning techniques! Let your kids have the satisfaction of learning these vital lessons.

You're going to eat anyway! Why not involve the family and teach your kids the invaluable skills of knowing their way around the kitchen. Using simple tools like weekly dinner menus, grocery shopping lists and your irreplaceable parental involvement, your kids can begin to take on some of the more mundane but important responsibilities around your home.

And, sometimes, you can let them decide what's for dinner.

Weekly Dinner Menus - Put Your Kids in Charge

WEEKLY