Bake bread with your kids.

It's a great way to connect with your kids, make memories and your house will smell amazing!

Parenting Matters #86

By: Catherine Lynch and Glenn Collins

Dear awesome parent,

We’re sick. Not crazy sick but sick enough to feel miserable, sleep a lot, and not write a fresh new article this week. (We hope you and your family are not sick.) Please enjoy this article we published last year on baking as a way to connect with your kids. And if you bake bread (or anything else) send us a pic!

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The world's problems (mass shootings, war, etc) can feel overwhelming. We can't solve them, but we can bake bread.  (Or cookies or cake, if you're not feeling up to bread baking.) Baking (and eating) brings us a sense of normalcy and control to a crazy world. It makes us feel better.  And when we feel better, we parent better.

I bake bread with my kids.

Here’s why you should too.

Friends, this 👆🏻is real bread I made in my real kitchen, not some fancy bread pic from instagram.

Here's my recipe: It’s delicious, ridiculously easy, and you don’t even have to knead it. You’re welcome. 🥰

Why bake bread?

• Because eating delicious food you cooked yourself is rewarding, satisfying, and meaningful. (And we all need more of that.)

• Because cooking and eating together can be fun, relaxing, and bonding. (And we all need more of that, too.)

Because your kid (girls and boys) should know how to cook something besides grilled cheese and poptarts (my personal specialties in my youth) so they can impress their friends, future dates, and be invited to great dinner parties, thus ensuring a social life. So they feel empowered.

How to make it fun:

• Let them put ingredients in the bowl (even though they’ll make a mess.)

• Let them stir (even though they’ll make a mess.)

• Let them use food coloring (even if you like your bread the normal bread color.)

• Let them add extra ingredients like chocolate chips or cinnamon and raisins.

How to not wreck your kitchen:

• Make sure the surface they’re working at is at a good height for them (because most kitchen counters are too high for kids.)

• Let them practice handling empty measuring cups before they measure flour and water. OR…

• Measure the ingredients yourself, and let them put ingredients in the bowl. (You can do this over the sink for easy clean up.)

Bonus tip:

Keep pets out of the kitchen during prep so they don’t track flour all over your house because Yes, there will be flour on your floor, and Yes, no matter how careful you are, your pets will manage to walk through it😂.

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Whenever you're ready, here’s how we can help you:

Are you a parent struggling with your kid's device use, or any other aspect of parenting tweens and teens? Book a free half-hour call HERE and we’ll give you actionable strategies you can put in place immediately to bring peace and harmony back to your family.

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Morning Clouds

Looking west at dawn, we saw this line of clouds light up. Within moments this brief burst of joyful color had faded and the clouds returned to their usual grey.