Cooking with Little Man | How to Not Lose Your Mind Whilst Making Dinner

2/52 {Food Photography}

Guys, my kiddo is high energy!  Like 150 miles per hour 24/7.  It is all I can do to keep up with him, for real. As we all know, early evening time turns into the “witching hour” for little ones, at least in our house.  Little Man never did nap well, and by 5pm he was always starting to melt down.  Since his dad works evenings, I had no back up for this lovely time just about each and every day.  Try making dinner with a high octane, deliriously tired, in your face toddler who winds up instead of slowing down when he’s tired and hungry.  I have the grey hairs to prove that it’s no walk in the park. 

So instead of throwing in the towel and crying in the corner or eating cereal for dinner most nights, (which in all honesty, I’d probably be apt to do if it weren’t for having a family), I let him help me make dinner. 

Ok, so handing over ingredients to a two year old was messy.  But he loved it and kept his attention on something productive.   It takes a little longer, but it is so much fun (mostly!).  Yes, there have been times when I had to clean up half a dozen broken eggs off the floor because I turned my back for 0.025 seconds, but mostly, he got the swing of things pretty quickly, and it’s gotten less messy for sure.  We make a pretty great team in the kitchen if I do say so myself. 

I love this boy so much and watching him immersed in doing something fun beats feeling stressed any day.  So that’s what I try to do mostly with this parenting thing…find a way to engage and connect.  And every once in a while, let him watch a TV show so I can throw something together, because sometimes you both just need a break!