older kids learning things
[email protected]
In a message dated 2/4/02 7:03:43 AM, ddzimlew@... writes:
[but wait--I'm using the cake-making analogy to branch off to another point]
:
<< If
I wanted to make a cake, and had never baked or cooked before, a cake
recipe that just said - do what ever seems best to you, use your
imagination - probably wouldn't be that helpful. If my friend, who
always had lovely cakes ( devil's food? ) had given me this recipe, I
would have to assume cake just didn't work for my family.
It would have been much more helpful to have an ingredients list and a
plan for putting them together. >>
Kirby made his first cake a few days ago.
It was super helpful that he was fifteen before he tried to make a cake. He
was interested in how it all worked, so the level of explanation was great,
and he was entirely receptive to discussion of baking soda, and why the
"toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean" bit worked.
We have high altitude considerations. He was thoughtful and will probably
never forget that with baking that IS a consideration.
What would not have worked from the recipe, what really needed an example to
follow, was "grease and flour the pans." I could have said "experiment," and
his first cake would have been a flop, as mine was (because I tried to figure
it all out on my very own, because my mom wasn't a baker at all, whatsoever).
My second was a flop too.
Kirby wants to try again. I asked how much help, if any, he wanted. He said
he'd like to do it with me in the room, and if I noticed him about to make a
serious error to say something. We joked about how some people just do the
intake of breath, and if you say "What?" they say "Nothing." We agreed I
wouldn't do anything like that. <g>nts to make a birthday cake this Friday.
AND a pot of meatballs to put over noodles. (The meatball recipe is a
Campbell's soup, some additives, bought meatballs concoction, but his friends
had it here and loved it.)
He's really excited about learning to cook. It was just time, he had real
reason, he's of an age to begin to muse about what if and when he might move
out, and because I never forced him to cook anything, it's a desireable adult
thing to want to do.
Sandra
[but wait--I'm using the cake-making analogy to branch off to another point]
:
<< If
I wanted to make a cake, and had never baked or cooked before, a cake
recipe that just said - do what ever seems best to you, use your
imagination - probably wouldn't be that helpful. If my friend, who
always had lovely cakes ( devil's food? ) had given me this recipe, I
would have to assume cake just didn't work for my family.
It would have been much more helpful to have an ingredients list and a
plan for putting them together. >>
Kirby made his first cake a few days ago.
It was super helpful that he was fifteen before he tried to make a cake. He
was interested in how it all worked, so the level of explanation was great,
and he was entirely receptive to discussion of baking soda, and why the
"toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean" bit worked.
We have high altitude considerations. He was thoughtful and will probably
never forget that with baking that IS a consideration.
What would not have worked from the recipe, what really needed an example to
follow, was "grease and flour the pans." I could have said "experiment," and
his first cake would have been a flop, as mine was (because I tried to figure
it all out on my very own, because my mom wasn't a baker at all, whatsoever).
My second was a flop too.
Kirby wants to try again. I asked how much help, if any, he wanted. He said
he'd like to do it with me in the room, and if I noticed him about to make a
serious error to say something. We joked about how some people just do the
intake of breath, and if you say "What?" they say "Nothing." We agreed I
wouldn't do anything like that. <g>nts to make a birthday cake this Friday.
AND a pot of meatballs to put over noodles. (The meatball recipe is a
Campbell's soup, some additives, bought meatballs concoction, but his friends
had it here and loved it.)
He's really excited about learning to cook. It was just time, he had real
reason, he's of an age to begin to muse about what if and when he might move
out, and because I never forced him to cook anything, it's a desireable adult
thing to want to do.
Sandra
[email protected]
On Mon, 4 Feb 2002 10:25:11 EST SandraDodd@... writes:
I'll be around if she has questions, and I'll give a holler if something
is going really wrong. I didn't catch it when she used baking soda
instead of baking powder, or whole wheat flour instead of all purpose
flour... so maybe it would go better if I were more involved... but she
is so sensitive to people telling her what to do (except soccer coaches).
This is probably the "dance" we struggle with most, when she asks for
help doing something, and I have to give her just the right amount of
help or information, but not too much or too little. Maybe because it's
sort of a new thing... I mean, in the past she might ask me to tie her
show, or make her a sandwich, but now she's asking how to make a cake, or
a cursive Q, or how to draw noses the way I do them. We sometimes get a
rhythm going, where I see where she is and give her thre next step in a
way she can understand... but just as often, she'll get lost somewhere
and I won't be able to see where she got lost, and she won't be able to
understand what I'm trying to say... and it gets snarly.
I am imagining that at 15 or 16 it will be easier. Nine seems to be the
beginning of a new way of thinking for her...
Dar
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> Kirby wants to try again. I asked how much help, if any, he wanted.I've started calling myself a "cooking consultant" for Cacie, meaning
> He said
> he'd like to do it with me in the room, and if I noticed him about
> to make a
> serious error to say something.
I'll be around if she has questions, and I'll give a holler if something
is going really wrong. I didn't catch it when she used baking soda
instead of baking powder, or whole wheat flour instead of all purpose
flour... so maybe it would go better if I were more involved... but she
is so sensitive to people telling her what to do (except soccer coaches).
This is probably the "dance" we struggle with most, when she asks for
help doing something, and I have to give her just the right amount of
help or information, but not too much or too little. Maybe because it's
sort of a new thing... I mean, in the past she might ask me to tie her
show, or make her a sandwich, but now she's asking how to make a cake, or
a cursive Q, or how to draw noses the way I do them. We sometimes get a
rhythm going, where I see where she is and give her thre next step in a
way she can understand... but just as often, she'll get lost somewhere
and I won't be able to see where she got lost, and she won't be able to
understand what I'm trying to say... and it gets snarly.
I am imagining that at 15 or 16 it will be easier. Nine seems to be the
beginning of a new way of thinking for her...
Dar
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Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.