This week’s Parentsaathi lesson is on cooking together. It is a part of my series of lessons on creating experiences together. Cooking is an enjoyable activity for parents and children to do together.
Tips
1. Focus on enjoyment rather than on teaching specific skills. Skills will gradually develop over time.
2. Assign clear roles to the child based on their point of learning.
3. Repeat the same cooking activity multiple times and introduce variations gradually.
Tip 3 will be explored in more detail in my next lesson on cooking together.
Why are ordinary experiences so challenging for our children?
I posed the above question in my previous post and I will continue to ask this question. Once we understand why experiences that we take for granted are often extremely challenging for neurodivergent children and adults, we can see why parents need to be mindful about how they engage their children in ordinary experiences.
Today, I want to share an ordinary experience of making idlis together. It sounds easy. Think of a child who has difficulty motor-planning, is unable to ask questions as needed, has difficulty planning tasks etc. This activity is not so simple.
How do we solve it? We often prompt the child, give detailed instructions etc. But does that approach prepare them for life?
An ordinary but memorable moment for us. Ananth is increasingly taking initiative, wanting to make choices, planning, moving about with ease, and using language to clarify information as needed. We are back to some ordinary experiences so he can practice and refine these skills that seem to be coming together.
Example: Kitchen Explorations: June 2022 Rama (R) and Ananth (A)
Date: 06/29/2022
• A: What are we having for dinner today? initiation
• R: idlis
• A: Can I make the idlis?
• R: Sure. You make the idlis, I will make sambar. Can you get the batter from the refrigerator? initiation
• A: Where is the pan for pouring the batter?
• R: It is in that cupboard. I will get the idli cooker.
• A: Pours the batter and says “Keep it in the cooker now.”
Tags: creating experiences, cooking, parenting challenges, enjoyment, TAHD, roles, life is theater
Author Dr Dasaratha Rama
Dr. Dasaratha Rama is a professor and home educator. She was the editor of a monograph on service-learning published by the American Association of Higher Education. This monograph was a part of a series of monographs on service-learning published by AAHE. She was also an Engaged Scholar with the Campus Compact, an association in the US dedicated to higher education civic and community engagement at colleges and universities. She has served as the Chair of the Teaching and Curriculum Section of the American Accounting Education. She is a certified leader in systems thinking, mapping, and leadership under a program offered by Cabrera Research Lab. She is currently doing a certificate in Theater Arts for Holistic Development (TAHD) from RASA (Ramana Sunritya Aalaya).