Empty Nester – Extraordinaire

Posts Tagged ‘kids’

Too Many Cooks

My children cook. All of them. And they’re very good – and careful. I don’t worry about them burning down my house or seriously hurting themselves. I don’t want the burns or minor cuts, but I do see these small injuries as unavoidable steps in learning.  I’m impressed with their technical skill, but even more that they’re not afraid to experiment.

Jordan has been cooking for years. He started with mac & cheese out of a box and move d to excel in home ec [technically it’s now called Family and Consumer Sciences, but to me… always home ec]. Now he prefers to specialize in soup, which is great. He makes excellent soup and I do not.

Alek never showed great interest in the kitchen until this past Christmas break when he wanted to eat thing we just didn’t have in the house. After a couple minutes on Google, he hunted down a recipe for tortilla shells, so he could have burritos. They were amazing.  With boosted confidence, he found a recipe for a from-scratch cake. Also amazing.  I hope this confidence and skill will continue to grow.  After the cookies he made for the Super Bowl, I feel good about the odds.

Ravynn is at a weird stage. She started baking in her Easy Bake Oven several years ago and became a master.  It wasn’t until the bulb broke and we weren’t able to replace it right away that we realized she should just be using the real oven.

Whisper skipped the easy bake and instead focused on the stove and anything she could put over noodles. It’s fairly common to see her pulling random items from cupboards, fridge, or freezer to fry them up in a big pan and pour over steamy pasta.

They’re all very handy and willing to help when mama needs some time away from the kitchen.  They’re also very kind when I want help. Growing up, I always saw a woman’s kitchen as her kingdom/refuge and I resisted anyone else stepping in. This has hurt more than a few feelings.  Now that the monsters are the ones stepping, I realize – too many cooks don’t spoil the soup; too many cooks make superior soup.

But, what’s “too many” anyway?

 

 

We’re All Stalkers

Despite my general displeasure with many things about Anderson Community Schools, I do love the Power Parent program they offer.  I can log in to my parent account to see this year’s grades for all my kids.

And I do.

At least three times each week I check in to see whey they are struggling. Or excelling.  I log in over my morning coffee and get a quick peek at who needs to spend a few more minutes double-checking homework, who aced a French test, or who might need to reread the Great Depression chapter of their history book.

At least once each week [two of the kids more often than that], the kids will ask me to check in and make sure grades have been entered or to assure they haven’t missed an assignment. At first, I was worried they wouldn’t appreciate this hands-on approach or my interest in their work, but it’s so much easier to keep things straight.  They see the value too.

Their grades have improved [one of them from a D-average to straight As and being ranked first in the class!] and it’s much easier to be the homework heavy when the numbers are right in front of me.  This is likely easier for the teachers too. They can spend less time each week answering notes about grades and assignments.

I like the accountability I can see growing in them and I hope that continues.  It’s a necessary trait that is slowly fading from many adults I see on a regular basis.