A top priority for every parent is to teach their children in order that they can become wise, healthy adults. It’s exciting to watch children learn so many things about the world around them and there seems to be an endless amount of values, ideas, and concepts to pass on. With so much on the agenda to teach, a valuable skill is often overlooked. We do it everyday but its easy to just do it ourselves to get it done as quickly as possible, but the reality is that children need to be taught to cook. Being taught about food and cooking as a child prepares them to be healthier adults. Cooking together offers a great opportunity to bond as a family and gives many chances to teach about the science that governs the natural world.
Uncle Ben’s is a strong believer in the value of teaching kids to cook which is why they’ve started Ben’s Beginners™. The mission of the Fourth Annual Ben’s Beginners™ Cooking Contest is quite simply to encourage parents and kids to cook together. The contest provides a platform for parents with kids in grades K-8 to connect with their children one meal at a time by going to unclebens.com and submitting a three-minute home video of their family preparing a rice-based dish while discussing their experience cooking together. Five winners will win $15,000 each for their family and a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for their child’s school. Entries were accepted up until October 12th and now you can vote for your favorites! Voting ends on November 3rd.
As part of the campaign, the Ben’s Beginners program put together this fun video project called Homework Direct showcasing what would happen if parents tried to outsource homework—as you can imagine, it’s a divisive topic! While some are shocked at the thought of taking away homework and the important lessons it teaches kids, many parents don’t realize the parallel in equipping a child with valuable skills by teaching them to cook. By providing meals without inviting kids into the kitchen, many parents are forgetting to teach their kids another life skill just as essential as reading and writing. Research shows 63% of parents believe cooking a meal teaches children more valuable life skills than homework. Yet, despite the kitchen unlocking such great potential, research shows that 57% of parents with kids over the age of 10+ are not certain their children could cook a dish on their own.
Check out the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FpuXl5q78M
Disclaimer: I have teamed up with Uncle Ben’s in support of this campaign. We received compensation for participation in this campaign. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.