Ear­li­er this week, Tamar Ansh shared a recipe for Moroc­can-Style Gefilte Fish for Passover. Her newest book, Let My Chil­dren Cook!, is now avail­able. She has been blog­ging here all week for Jew­ish Book Coun­cil and MyJew­ish­Learn­ing.

Fol­low­ing the release of my newest cook­book, Let My Chil­dren Cook! A Passover Cook­book for Kids, peo­ple often ask me whether it’s REAL­LY pos­si­ble to get the kids to be help­ful in the kitchen with all the hol­i­day food prep. The answer is: Yes!! While it may take longer to peel those pota­toes or to whisk the eggs, it’s well worth it. Kids love to be help­ful (though it may not always seem that way!) and lit­tle jobs keep them enter­tained dur­ing the pre-Passover hus­tle and bus­tle. Besides, they’ll always remem­ber it as spe­cial qual­i­ty time and will even learn along the way.

Over the years, my kids have spent many enjoy­able hours in the kitchen with me. I find it’s all about expec­ta­tions. I try to set out a cer­tain amount of time we will spend togeth­er and try not to push it. Cook­ing with kids is won­der­ful but best if done in incre­ments rather than a marathon of kitchen time. If there’s more to be done, I fin­ish it myself after they’ve gone to bed. For the younger ones, I make sure to des­ig­nate very spe­cif­ic, sim­ple jobs. Once they fin­ish, say, rolling out dough for cook­ies or chop­ping veg­gies for a sal­ad, I make sure to thank them and let them know they’ve been very help­ful. This has proven to have gone over well in my fam­i­ly, as my big­ger kids are now great cooks. They tru­ly love to pre­pare any­thing – but they do have a pref­er­ence for desserts. (Who doesn’t?!) My son is excel­lent at braid­ing chal­lah (not for Passover, of course) and bak­ing apple crisps. Last year, my girls made deli­cious pota­to blintzes and Passover egg noodles. 

Besides for keep­ing my kids involved, our time spent in the kitchen togeth­er also serves as bond­ing time. Every­one says they grow up too fast…and it’s true! Soon they’ll be busy with friends and oth­er inter­ests. I like to make cook­ing time an enjoy­able activ­i­ty for the fam­i­ly, even if it may take longer than doing on my own. Mem­o­ries that will last a life­time are being formed. We even have some fun­ny sto­ries involv­ing a few kitchen flops that cer­tain­ly won’t be for­got­ten. I once made a beau­ti­ful cake with my chil­dren and it slipped out of the pan right onto the counter. Of course, they were thrilled since they got to eat it right then and there.

So, I say, instead of dread­ing the hours of cook­ing and bak­ing you are plan­ning, embrace it. Get the kids some cute aprons, put on some music, enjoy the qual­i­ty time. When you sense they’ve had enough, do some crafts togeth­er (that is why I includ­ed some crafts in Let My Chil­dren Cook!) and sit the kids down with some art sup­plies. The atmos­phere will be pleas­ant and you will be able to check some things off that pre-Passover ​“to do” list while cre­at­ing pos­i­tive memories.

Tamar Ansh is an author, edi­tor and food colum­nist, among many oth­er things. Her newest book, Let My Chil­dren Cook!, is a Passover cook­book for kids aged 8 – 108 with easy to fol­low recipes, safe­ty tips and hilar­i­ous illus­tra­tions, that will help any kid (and their fam­i­lies!) enjoy a deli­cious and fun Passover for years to come. Some of Tamar Ansh’s oth­er books include: A Taste of Chal­lah; Let’s Say Amen!, & Pesach – Any­thing’s Pos­si­ble!, an adult Pesach cook­book with over 350 non gebrochs & gluten free no-fail recipes. Every­thing can be viewed via her web­site at www​.Tama​rAnsh​.com. Mrs. Ansh also does live cook­ing and chal­lah shows, and has been pub­lished in a wide vari­ety of both print and online publications. 

Relat­ed Content:

• Kosher By Design: Kids in the Kitchen by Susie Fishbein
• Kosher By Design Teens and 20-Some­things: Cook­ing for the Next Gen­er­a­tion by Susie Fishbein
• Jew­ish Fairy Tale Feasts: A Lit­er­ary Cook­book by Jane Yolen, et al.
• The Cher­ry on Top: A Kosher Junior Cook­book by Chaya Feigy Grossman
• Get Cook­ing! A Jew­ish Amer­i­can Fam­i­ly Cook­book and Rockin’ Mama Doni Cel­e­bra­tion by Rachel Harkham with Doni Zasloff Thomas
• Jew­ish Hol­i­days Cook­book: Fes­tive Meals for Cel­e­brat­ing the Year by Jill Colel­la Bloomfield
• Essays: Par­ent­hood