Have all the ingredients on hand before you start. The last thing you want is knowing that you don’t have all the ingredients when you want to start. That can cause a disaster. Look in your cabinets and pantry to assure you have all the ingredients. If you don’t, do a quick shopping spree with your child. Have them find all the ingredients and cross them out on the shopping list. Place your tools and your ingredients on the counter or cooking space. Have your child do a quick scavenger hunt of all the tools and ingredients you’ll need for your recipe. Have the recipe ready and printed out. It helps your child if the recipe is printed out, even if you know it by heart. Your child will be able to read the recipe and comprehend what it means. If needed, describe what you child needs to do if they are having trouble understanding the recipe. You could also rewrite the recipe yourself and make it into an easier understanding for your child. Avoid using cookie mix packets. Those packets avoid all the fun for your child because they are quick and easy to make. This also bores and upsets the child as they were hoping for at least an hour of baking. Try using easy scratch recipes.

They don’t that long to make, after all! Wear the proper clothes. Pull over an apron and put on old clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. Girls with long hair may need their hair tied, may need to wear a net, or may need to wear a chef’s hat to avoid hair in the cookies. Prevent your child from wearing expensive new clothes or clothes with long sleeves. Letting your child wear an apron or/and a chef’s hat makes them feel proud and feel like a ‘baker’. Consider this while you choose an outfit before baking. Have a quick mode for clean up. Let’s admit, no one really likes messes. We parents, babysitters, older siblings, grandparents, or family members hate cleaning up after a child’s mess. But if you have a quick clean up mode, it’s not so bad. Cover your cooking space with an old tablecloth, have a roll of paper towels on hand to wipe up those spills, and wash each dish as you go on to bake up goodies! Recognize if you need a stool. Younger children might not be able to reach their cooking space (or might have to stand on their tippy toes to reach). If that’s the case you might need to stable a stool for good reach. Note that this will not be needed for

taller kids. Preheat the oven. Teach your child how to preheat the oven and what it’s for. You may need to help them if they are having trouble. Supervision is defiantly needed. Prepare your cookie tin. Have your child determine what size cooking pan they need. Grease or cover the cookie tin with parchment paper. Place it aside for later use. Begin baking! Mix that sugar, crack those eggs, pour the cocoa chips, and have a really good time. Children will have fun measuring and adding the ingredients in. Have them roll the dough and try to crack the eggs. Offer advice on how to bake cookies correctly. You never know, they might just bake some cookies for you on your birthday! Have fun while the baking process moves on. Tell stories, crack a joke or two, tell about the cooking past, and pipe up the radio to dance while your favorite song pulls up. Before you know it those cookies will be in the oven! Have your child learn about safety, reading, and math skills. The kitchen is that second school for children. They’ll be able to measure the ingredients, read the recipe, learn what’s hot and what’s not, and so much more. Bring up that ‘school’ stuff whenever you can, but

never overdue it. Know that there will be times to wait. Remind your child that the cookies will bake, refrigerate, or do any other process. While you two are waiting, clean up. Wash those extra dishes, sweep up the floor, wipe the counter, and even clean yourself up! Decorate the cookies. This is one of the greatest parts of the baking process of cookies. Kids have that excellent imagination and those wonderful plucky fingers. Decorate your cookies with icing, sprinkles, dried fruit, frosting, or spices. Have your child decorate them, not you! Have them do whatever they want to their cookie/s. Make the cookies for a good cause. Of course once the cookies are done you and your child get to eat them. But you are not the only ones to enjoy your fabulous cookies. Share them with the family, give them as a birthday gift, make dozens to bring at a hospital, or make a sale of the cookies and use the money for a cause. Not only will it teach your child about teamwork, it’ll teach them to know about others around them and how they feel. Understand mistakes happen. Mistakes were born to happen. There will be flour spills, or egg shells in the dough, or cookies that will bake as hard as

rocks. Both of you will learn together of your mistakes and learn how to prevent them in the future. You may make valued changes to your recipe, or change things around in the kitchen. Discuss together how to avoid similar problems during baking and after baking. Know that it’s OK if your child doesn't want to bake cookies. Not every child has that passion to bake a treat or two. Some may go insane for baking, others won’t. Some will much prefer to be bored than bake in a boring kitchen. Understand your child’s opinion and move on. Try doing something else together that they enjoy best.