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Jan
30
2011

5-yr-olds Making French Toast

By | Family Life, Video

18 Comments

We have gotten into the habit of making individual breakfasts in the morning. We don’t serve serial and milk like most families do. We do eggs, bagels and cream cheese, peanut butter and toast, homemade yogurt and so on. Josiah and Joshua’s favorite is French toast, and we think they like it so much because they make it themselves.

Obviously, we start are children off in the kitchen as soon as possible. How old are your children before they learn how to make their own breakfast (or snack)? And what are their favorites?

About Chris & Wendy Jeub

The Jeub Family live in Monument, Colorado, with 14 of their 16 children. They encourage couples to love God and love one another, building an atmosphere of love in their homes.

  • Bjmjasay

    So sweet! My 5 year old just climbed up beside me to watch and said, “Mommy, I can crack eggs!”

    We start them young, too. By the time they’re 3, they can fix sandwiches unattended. At 4 they can microwave a cheese tortilla alone. With mom or an older sibling in the kitchen, they start helping as soon as they can stand on a stool and reach the counter!

    When I was pregnant with number 6, I had some really rough days. It was nice that my 8 and 9 year old boys could fix the family a few easy healthy meals without me having to oversee them. I am thankful that I don’t have to worry about them moving out one day and surviving on frozen pizzas!

    • Anonymous

      That is awesome! It not only teaches them basic skills, it is a lot easier
      around the house when the little ones can cook.

  • Shana

    Ooooh, I shudder to even think of my littles in the kitchen! As much as I’d love to, I barely fit in there on my own, and I’m not that big of a person. It’s just a really tiny tiny kitchen.

    My 9yo dd helps me by making sandwiches for lunch every day, and on the days when I cave and do a little cereal, she does that too :) But we can’t be in there at the same time, so I don’t have as many teaching opportunities as I’d like.

    Some day :) I really hope that we can get a bigger kitchen eventually and I can have more space to teach them all :)

    • Anonymous

      This reminds me to post on our kitchen remodel. We did it a year ago and it has been awesome. I have all the pics and everything, just needing time to put it all together. Stay tuned!

      • Janelle Cotogna

        I remember seeing a short video of your remodel and you talking a bit about how you did it. I’d love to see it! We are doing a remodel this year on part of our kitchen and laundry room, plus the family room. Our entire house is a remodel project. :)

  • http://homespunheritage.blogspot.com/ Jolene

    As soon as they can stand and stir!

    We have a monthly rotation for kitchen helper. They help with menu prep, grocery list, food prep, serving etc. All aspects of feeding the family…our oldest 3 are 6,7, and 8.

    Blessings!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=799259836 Amy Woolley Pederson

    I almost cried watching it. That is the cutest video EVER!

  • Cotogna

    That was so cute! Do you not add cinnamon to your french toast? That seemed weird to me. :)

    My kids love to cook. My girls are now 12 and 10 and they love making breakfast, smoothies, really anything. Ours start around the age of 5 making toast, bagels and cream cheese and sandwiches and pouring cereal. Its very helpful to me that they can do so much, and they are getting better about cleanup too!

    • Anonymous

      Sometimes we add Cinnamon. Not always.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710027861 Stephanie Yeager

    Our third son (7th child), who is now 9, starting making his own scrambled eggs when he was six. That’s still his favorite breakfast, usually served on a tortilla with some grated Cheddar. I love that he can fix it for himself as well as for his younger (and older!) siblings.

  • Lisa

    When I was pregnant with our youngest (now 18 months), I had 2 months of severe, all day nausea. It was so bad I lost 17 pounds. My kids (at that time 5, 6, 8 and 9) all really started to pitch in by making their own breakfasts and lunches because I couldn’t get out of bed or be near food most days during that time. For breakfasts they did simple things like toast or bagels with cream cheese, sausage links, frozen waffles, or scrambled eggs. Lunches were mostly left overs, sandwiches or cheese and crackers, with fruit. We have kept up with them helping in the kitchen since then and plan to start the youngest even earlier. That is also when the oldest 2 started doing dishes! :)

  • Amanda Brown

    When I was pregnant with my 3rd child, I got pre eclampsia and was very ill. I was induced and Nikita was only 3lb 9oz born. So our kids aged almost 5 and 3 at the time had to pitch in and help out. Whether that just be to help mum & dad in the kitchen by stirring or by getting their own fruit and such for breakfast. Since then (Nikita is now a healthy 11 yr old) they help out quite often. My eldest daughter, just turned 15, has some thought to being a chef and my youngest daughter, 10, also adores cooking. Alot of my friends think I’m crazy but my 10 year old Delaney can cook most meals you ask. Instead of borrowing kids books she loves borrowing new cookbooks for ideas.
    Mikeileyah, 15, now bakes a batch of brownies for an after work/ school snack every few days.
    Thanks for the post and funnily enough our girls for a treat are making french toast for tea.
    Nikita is making it for them :)
    Amanda
    (Portland, Australia)

  • JenT

    We start our early, too. I’m convinced that if I were ever bed-ridden, my children could fix all the meals. I have older ones that can cook a whole meal by themselves, but the younger ones can also do simple things like sandwiches. My 7 year old loves to cook bacon on the electric skillet. We eat turkey bacon so it doesn’t have the popping grease that pork bacon does. Of course their favorite lunch to make is ramen noodles – so simple!

  • JenT

    Love the video!!!! They are so cute and so at ease in front of the camera.

  • http://www.gabesbabes.com/ Gabe

    We start them early around here too. My one year old even pulls up a chair and “helps.” I expect the kids to be useful helpers in the kitchen by five, which means they start “helping” much earlier. It takes more work at first, but it sure does pay off! My ten year old can make a whole meal for us with little to no help!
    I did a couple of blog posts on having my 3 and 5 year olds make banana bread on their own!

    http://www.gabesbabes.com/2010/09/baking-bread.html

    http://www.gabesbabes.com/2010/09/more-banana-bread.html

  • Kathy

    I can just see all the panic in people’s eyes over a sweet video like this. “What about the mess?”, “They could get burned on the stove!”. lol! Parents like that must wrap their kids in bubble wrap to leave the house! I’ve seen these parents with their children on a “leash” out in public. Thanks for sharing!

  • Staceycarey

    The little boy i have taken care of since he was an infant has always helped me in the kitchen,, i was never able to have children but this little boy could have been born from me and i could not have love him anymore than i do.. He is my heart.. i have always let him help me in the kitchen from the time he started walking.. he loves to help me cook and bake.. i can remember sitting on the counter while my mom cooked for us…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Heather-Brenner/1412472483 Heather Brenner

    What a great Job, they couldn’t have been any more adorable and they did a great job, I don’t think they made too much of a mess, I am messier when I cook hehe.. There is MUCH LOVE in THAT KITCHEN :)