As parents, we try so hard to set our children up for a lifetime of good health. But there are plenty of factors sabotaging our efforts. Natalie Muth, MD, has dubbed the biggies the “Six S’s.” In Season 2, Episode 9 of the Kiddos in the Kitchen podcast, she delved into the topic of sugar. Here are all six, along with Dr. Muth’s advice on how to avoid them as best you can. 

1. Snacks

These mini meals have become a cultural mainstay. Everywhere we go, snacks. And while a healthy snack can help reenergize a busy kiddo and stave off hunger, constant snacking is detrimental to the bigger picture. 

“[Kids today] are snacking all day long,” Dr. Muth says. “And when kids are snacking all day long, they often are going to come to dinner not being hungry, meaning they’re less likely to eat the food that we want them to eat.”

Dr. Muth suggests planning when snacks will be served, say, at 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., and making them healthy. She likes to offer her kids a banana or apple slices with peanut butter. 

2. Sweets

We know the prospect of dessert shouldn’t be used to entice kids into eating their vegetables (or anything for that matter), but that doesn’t mean you need to take it off the proverbial table altogether. After all, dessert is delicious! And there is room for it in a healthy lifestyle. Just not every day, Dr. Muth says. Again, she recommends planning ahead.

“In my house, desserts are [served] Tuesdays and Fridays,” she says. “So the kids know, and they don't ask for it the other days. Sometimes we have to be flexible when things come up, like parties, and we talk about what we can adjust [in our diets that week]. But by having the structure and the routine, it helps to take away a lot of the negotiations and the battles and the constant asking about desserts.”

3. Sugary drinks

Most dietitians preach moderation, but this is one area Dr. Muth is steadfast in. 

“I actually recommend not ever having sugary drinks, if you can swing that,” she says. “We know that sugary drinks are detrimental to health in a lot of ways, and they also don’t cause us to feel full in the same way that a food would.”

If that’s not realistic for your household, Dr. Muth advises limiting sugar-sweetened beverages to once a week at most and putting some parameters in place.

“If you are going to allow sugary drinks,” Dr. Muth says, “have a structure in place so kids know that, ‘OK, sugary drinks are only allowed when we go out to eat,’ or, ‘I only get to have a sugary drink once a week.’” 

4. Screen time

This is tricky because screen time is a problem among children and adults alike. The keys here are to stick to a screen time schedule and to lead by example. 

“If the kids know that there’s a certain time of day that they’re allowed to have the screen, and it’s a finite amount of time, it can help to decrease the fighting and the bickering that goes back and forth when they’re begging to be on their iPad for longer,” Dr. Muth says. “This was a challenge in my house, so we actually ended up saying no screen time on weekdays, but I know that won’t work for a lot of families.”

5. Sleep disruptors

Screens, of course, are big sleep disruptors, so be sure to put the screens away at least an hour before bed, Dr. Muth says, and don’t let children have TVs or screens of any kind in their rooms. Beyond that, routine is the best thing you can do for helping your kids sleep better. 

“We know that children, as well as adults, sleep much better and have much better quality sleep if they follow a routine of going to bed at the same time each night and waking up for the most part at the same time each morning,” she says. “When we practice that, the quality of the sleep is better, and kids are more likely to get the number of hours of sleep that they need to be able to function the next day.”

6. Slick sales

Marketers spend beaucoup bucks each year selling junk food, sugary drinks, video games and more to kids. Shielding younger kids from such advertising is ideal. For older kids and teens, focusing on media literacy becomes important. 

“There was a study that showed that teenagers who learned how to recognize these ads, and in their typical teenage defiance, became defiant against the marketers,” Dr. Muth says. “They were like, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to let you influence me. I’m not going to fall for your stuff,’ and they were less likely to buy the products that were being marketed to them than teens who had not had that training.”

More Advice

Dr. Muth is full of excellent advice. Give the Kiddos in the Kitchen podcast Season 2, Episode 1 a listen to learn how to create better family mealtimes. And check out the American Academy of Pediatrics’ book, which Dr. Muth authored, called Family Fit Plan: A 30-day Wellness Transformation. 

In Season 2, Episode 7 of Kiddos in the Kitchen podcast, I spoke with Malina Malkani, a registered dietitian and author of Simple and Safe Baby-Led Weaning. As you might guess, we spoke about baby-led weaning, which is the practice of feeding infants as young as 6 months whole foods rather than purees. 

For a lot of parents, baby-led weaning can be daunting in large part because of the choking risk. But Malina assured me that shouldn’t turn parents off. 

“We have this really robust and growing body of evidence about infant feeding, and recent studies show that baby-led weaning is not associated with an increased risk of choking,” she told me. “In fact, in one study — and I think this is fascinating — babies who are offered finger foods the least frequently had the highest frequency of choking episodes. And in another study, it was found that by the time they reach 8 months, baby-led weaning babies gag less frequently than their spoon-fed counterparts.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean parents should just start tossing their 6-month-olds bunches of grapes and whole chicken breasts. As with everything else at this stage, baby-led weaning is all about what’s developmentally appropriate for your child. Here are some suggestions from Malina.

Feeding a Baby Age 6 to 8 Months

“Most infants by about 6 months are picking up objects using something that we call the palmar grasp,” Malina said. “Basically, they’re palming an object and bringing it up to the mouth.

“When babies are using this type of grasp, the best-size food is about the size of an adult pinky finger, so it's stick-shaped and longer than baby’s fist,” she added. “And the reason for that is that babies can grasp it in the fist, and then bring it up to the mouth, and whatever piece is sticking out of that fist, that's what they're going to be able to put into the mouth.”

She went on to say that it’s important for these foods to be the right texture for safety, and should be squishable between your thumb and forefinger. Some examples include avocado, pasta, soft pear, toasted bread, pancake or French toast.

Feeding a Baby Age 9 to 12 Months

“As baby develops, something called the pincer grasp emerges sometime between 7 and 12 months but usually around the 9-month mark,” Malina said. “And this is where baby can pick up smaller pieces of food between the thumb and forefinger and then bring it up to the mouth. 

“At this stage, foods should be offered at about the size of a Cheerio or chickpea, and should still be soft and squishy so baby can easily manage them in the mouth.” In addition to the foods mentioned above, think kiwi, steamed broccoli, hard-boiled eggs and raspberries. 

More Advice

To learn more about the basics of baby-led weaning, be sure to listen to the podcast. Then check out Malina Malkani’s newest book, Simple & Safe Baby-Led Weaning. 

What kid is going to turn down the opportunity to bake cookies? Or a cake? Or muffins? Or donuts? Not mine! And with the pandemic keeping us at home more than ever, my son and I spent a lot of Friday nights (and Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons) last fall baking. Banana bread, pumpkin donut muffins, pumpkin cake, pumpkin-chocolate marble cake, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookie bars, more brownies … 

Baking is more of a science than cooking — and demands us to be more precise (and pay more attention to recipes) — but it’s more fun to do with kids in spite of that … because, ya know, there’s a cookie at the end of it. 

In the Kiddos in the Kitchen podcast, many of my guests have shared how much they love baking with kids and have offered advice. Here are eight tips from my guests (plus my own bonus tip) to help you have an enjoyable baking experience during this National Baking Month.

1. Crack eggs on a flat surface. 

“The best way to crack an egg is to actually crack it on a hard flat surface,” says Wendy McGowan, a professional baker and cake and cookie decorator in Arizona. “I know my grandmother taught me to crack it on the side of the bowl, but that is actually not the best way to do it. You want the flat surface because it will crack the shell, but it will keep the shell attached to the membrane, which keeps the shell out of your bowl.” (Check out episode one of the podcast for more info from Wendy on eggs, including how to get pieces of shell out of your eggs.)

2. Think of it as an activity.

It’s important to be in the right mindset to cook, says Toria Frederick — the fabulous mama of the amazing Julian, who together are behind the Step Stool Chef. “Think of it like an arts and crafts activity,” she says. Set out everything just like you would set out paper and glitter and glue. Think about cooking as an opportunity to create something and have fun, rather than a must-do chore.

3. Read the recipe first.

For McGowan, a successful baking adventure relies on planning. “The first thing in preparation that I do is I read the recipe,” she says. “The important thing is to check to make sure whether it needs to chill overnight or not. Most cookie — especially sugar cookie — recipes, ask you to chill it at least overnight, and that is important.”

You never want to tell kids you’re baking cookies and then realize after you’ve made the dough that you have to wait to bake them!

4. Put away your cell phone.

“Probably my number one thing is keeping the phone out of the kitchen,” says Amisha Klawonn of the Centered Mama. Eliminate your own distractions so you can be fully present. That will help make for a better, less stressful experience for you both.

5. Plan ahead — like a TV chef. 

Klawonn also likes to get all of the ingredients out in advance when she and her son bake cookies. “When you watch those cooking shows, they always have everything ready to go,” she says. “So I'll try to just kind of pre-arrange a little bit so that everything is ready to go like our own mini cooking show.” 

6. Use visuals upfront. 

Babysitter Guru Hassanatou Barry reminds us that visuals are important — especially for younger children. 

“Show them everything,” she says. “Maybe show them a quick two-minute video of how something is made.” Then, show them all the utensils you plan to use so they can see what’s in store before you dive in.

7. Stay positive.

“I always say baking is about happiness,” Barry says. “There shouldn't be any type of negativity in baking. You're eating sweets for goodness’ sake.” 

8. Trust your kiddo. 

Meghan Stott, a teacher for the blind and visually disabled, has a daughter who is visually impaired. Her daughter, who is 11, doesn’t always like to read recipes. She prefers to jump in — and when baking bread, for example, use her other senses.

“She would just work that dough until it felt the right way under her fingers,” Stott says. “She's surprised me on several occasions. And so I think what I've learned from her is just not being so restricted and that, ‘Yeah, you're right, Kait, it is just flour, water, salt and yeast.’”

Bonus tip: Choose a time when you can be relaxed and enjoy the moment.

I love baking. And I usually love baking with my son. But there are days when I need to acknowledge it’s just not the time to bake together. Do we have to be somewhere soon? Am I stressed from work? Is his bedtime around the corner? Am I concerned about having a clean kitchen later that day? 

Because the thing is, Hassanatou Barry was right: There’s no room for negativity in baking. And I know that if I’m stressed or we don’t have the proper amount of time for the baking activity, that I will almost surely bring negativity into the kitchen. So, my bonus tip is this: If you’re not in a mental place with enough time to relax and be fully present with your kiddo in the kitchen, skip it this time. The best baking experiences demand you to be at your best.

Kids cracking eggs? Sure, why not?

Oh, right. The MESS. The shell in the bowl. And did I mention the mess?

I’ve been there. And I’m hesitant to go back anytime soon.

So, on the first episode of the Kiddos in the Kitchen podcast, I asked Wendy McGowan, a professional cake decorator and baking instructor in Gilbert, Ariz., to share with us the proper way to crack an egg. I also asked for some advice on how to prevent some of the smashing (and subsequent mess).

A few things to keep in mind when you’re teaching your kiddos how to crack an egg:

• First, do not crack them on the side of the bowl. Lightly tap the egg on a flat surface. Then, when it starts to crack, open it into the bowl.

• Crack your eggs (one at a time) in their own bowl before dumping into a mixture. This helps you ensure each egg is safe (and if it’s not for some reason, you won’t ruin an entire batter/dough/etc.).

• If you have a little SMASHER as I do, make sure you have a big bowl so they can tap and open (or smash) the egg directly into the bowl, bypassing the counter (and floor).

• To get any of the eggshells out of the bowl — and this one blew my mind because I didn’t know it!! — just get a little water on your finger and reach in and pull out the shell.

How do your little ones handle the egg-cracking duties? At what age did they master it? I’d love to know!

When I sat down to bake an apple pie — MY first — with my son a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure exactly how long he’d last (it ended up being just over two hours) or how much he’d be able to do (quite a bit, as it turned out).

A few things young kiddos can help with as you bake your own apple pie this fall:

• Smush together the flour, sugar and butter for the crust.

• Crank an apple peeler/corer.

• Slice apples (if you trust ‘em with a kid-safe knife).

• Stir the filling over the stove (if they’re ready).

• Roll the crust.

• Crimp the top crust/slice holes in the top crust.

Enjoy fall baking season!

Spring break and upcoming long weekends (we’re looking at you, Good Friday!) can be challenging for parents. We savor that time with our kiddos, but we also have lots going on. And, no, kids, you can’t just play video games or watch TV all day.

So, here are a couple things to help you fill the time with fun and meaningful activities.

First, check out this nifty Spring Break Adventure Guide we created!

Then, our friends at Education.com have a whole slew of resources, including this fun spring word search that you can download for free. (And parents: Go ahead and cheat with the answers, too. You’ll get no judgment here.)

And beyond helping your kiddos spring into learning with this fun and engaging worksheet, you can find more language arts resources at Education.com!

Activity:  Menu Math

Got a stack of take-out menus sitting in a drawer in your kitchen? Pull them out for this game of "restaurant." While talking about sweet and savory foods, you and your second grader can reinforce real-world applications of counting and using money. You'll also be building success in school: In second grade and beyond, money is a very common math topic.

For more fun and engaging math activities, go to Education.com!

What You Need:

• Old, extra take-out menus

• Bills and coins

• Silverware tray (to be used as a cash register tray to keep money sorted)

• White-out

• Paper

• Pencils

What You Do:

1. Locate some old take-out menus in your house, or you can look up some sample menus online. Prices will likely be listed in decimal form, which kids won't study in detail until third, fourth, and fifth grades. Use your white-out to cover the decimals and just show the dollar amounts on each item.

2. Now tell your child that you will take turns “playing restaurant,” switching off roles of being the customer and the server.

3. You should start out in the role of server, so you can model the procedure first for your child. Your child will pretend to be the customer.

4. Take your child's order on a notepad by asking what he or she wants and writing down each item, along with the cost of the item.

5. Add the value of the items on the notepad for your child to see, state the total cost, and give your child the check. Make change if necessary (no tip required!).

6. For the next round, try allowing your child to add each item themselves.

7. You can repeat this game as many times as you want, switching roles each time. Use a different menu to keep things fresh, or have your child create her own menu.

Thanks again to Education.com for sharing these fun ideas. Be sure to check out more math resources on their website.

Two years ago, I wrote about my almost-2-year-old attempting to shuck corn. Well, here I am just a few weeks away from my son's fourth birthday, and a few weekends ago, we noticed that fresh corn was out at our local market. He was very excited to add it to our cart — and eager to help prepare it.

And WOW, what a difference two years have made! This year, he could deftly rip the husk off without any help. And yeah, sure, it was messy, but honestly, he was no less messy than I would have been on my own.

He also loved helping to season the corn and wrap it in foil before we threw it on the grill. And more importantly, he loved eating it. 

Toria Frederick — the fabulous mama of the amazing Julian, who together are behind the Step Stool Chef — offers some great advice for all of us to keep in mind.

“Part of what I’m trying to do is make cooking more approachable,” she says. Yes, please! She also has ideas to help make it less stressful for us parents.

Think about cooking like any other kids' activity. It’s important to be in the right mind-set to cook, Toria says. “Think of it like an arts and crafts activity,” she says. Set out everything just like you would set out paper and glitter and glue. Think about cooking as an opportunity to create something and have fun, rather than a must-do chore.

Pick a good time for you. It’s important especially in the early days, Toria says, that you pick a day and time that work for you. If you’re chill on a Sunday morning, let the kids help do brunch. If you’re a crazy, stressed-out mess after work on Fridays, don’t make that the day you cook together.

Plan ahead and prep. As kids get older, Toria points out, they can help pull out the ingredients and measure. But for little kids, you’ll want to have ingredients pre-measured and ready to go. That will keep them focused (and their short little attention spans optimized) and you sane.

Find the fun. Look, kids don’t know that cooking can be a chore. For them, it’s fun. So, help them find the fun. Whether it’s cracking eggs or popping peas, help little ones identify tasks that they enjoy and can do. She once had her son Julian make a homemade whipping cream by shaking the cream in a jar — so much fun!

Embrace autonomy, and celebrate wins. One day, Julian came home and told Toria, “Mommy, I got dinner.” She sat back and let him, answering any questions he had. “It was great, and I was very proud of him.” When kids can say, “I made that,” they are pleased with themselves. So, embrace that independence, Toria says, and empower them.

Love these ideas? Be sure to follow the Step Stool Chef on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

But it's also sugar and flour and frosting EVERYWHERE, and you can kiss those perfectly iced sugar cookies goodbye (at least for a while). It's time to say hello to blue pine trees and red snowmen, people.

And look, Christmas brings with it a lot of tasks — decorating and shopping and large family meals. So, maybe the thought of baking is too stressful for some. I get that. But for the record, I love all of the Christmas tasks, so I'm a bad person to ask. 

And one of my own personal childhood memories is holiday baking. So, it's something I wanted to share with my own son. I've been waiting for him to be old enough to really get involved — and to hopefully have outgrown a few allergies so that we could actually make cookies he'd be able to eat.

Well, last weekend, my mom, my 16-year-old nephew, my 3-year-old son and I piled into my kitchen to make cookies. We made Spritz cookies. We made peanut butter cookies. And we made sugar cookies that the kids could decorate with frosting and sprinkles. (And all were dairy-free and egg-free!)

When the boys called it quits, I realized that we had been baking and decorating and enjoying one another’s company for over 3 1/2 hours. Now, I don’t know what anyone else’s 3-year-old's attention span is, but my son's is pretty short. I honestly cannot remember the last time he did anything for 3 1/2 hours straight. In fact, some nights he doesn’t even sleep that long before he wanders into our room.

I considered baking day a success.

Ways to Make Christmas Baking with Kids Enjoyable

So, here are a few takeaways from our experience that might help you enjoy the time rather than stress out about it.

• Let go of perfection. As with all things with kids, you have to let go of perfection, of stock images like the one above, of clean clothes and clean kitchens, of Martha Stewart and Pinterest. It's not gonna happen. (And hey, cookies are delicious even if they're ugly, so who cares.)

• Remember why you're doing this. HOLIDAY MEMORIES. 

• Team up. Look, I love, love, love mommy/son time. I cherish it beyond measure, and I'm always on the lookout for things we can do together, just the two of us. But having another adult and another "kid" (even if he's 16) really helped. If you have an only child, think about inviting a friend or cousin over. I think it helps with the level of engagement. PLUS, the grown-ups can share responsibilities so it's less daunting for you! My mom and I handled moving the baking sheets in and out of the oven, setting timers and washing dishes (though, to be fair, my mom did most of that). And we each made some dough in advance.

• Make dough in advance. Some dough works better after it's been refrigerated. Plus, if you want to make more than one type of cookie, you'll likely be washing measuring spoons and cups, bowls and beaters in order to make all the dough. For our baking day, we made two batches of dough in advance and one with the kids. They got to watch the KitchenAid mixer spin around, which is something my son always enjoys. They got to help measure and pour ingredients (though you can pre-measure to help move things along). But by prepping in advance, we eliminated a lot of the wait time. For older kids, this might not be a big deal. But for little ones lacking in patience, this was helpful.

• Do it when the neat partner is gone. My husband is neater than I am. Just naturally. More organized, less clutter, neater. I aspire to be all of those things, but there's always something else that takes priority (writing, sleeping, exercising, playing with my son). Baking cookies can be MESSY. You have to let it go. And if you have a spouse/partner who shouldn't see how the sausage is made ... well, send 'em out of the house for a day. Mine was gone for several days, so I had a chance to clean up (a little) before he came home. 

How Kids Can Help Make Christmas Cookies

So, what can the kids do? Obviously, depending on age, lots of things. They can even man the oven if you want. In our case, here's what our kiddos enjoyed:

• Mixing. My son loves dumping ingredients into the mixing bowl and flipping the switch. Can't get enough. (My nephew and nieces were always the same way as little ones.)

• Rolling balls of dough. For cookies that need to be rolled into balls before baking (like our PB cookies), this is a great task for older kids. My nephew took control of this task, while my son rolled the balls of dough around in colored sugar.

• Spritzing cookies. My son is too little for this, but my nephew enjoyed it greatly. My son loved just watching the cookies come out (and helping to pick the design).

• Rolling dough. Both kids enjoyed tackling this task. (But yikes, flour went everywhere!) 

• Cutting cookies. This is what I really remember from childhood. And both the teenager and the 3-year-old enjoyed using cookie cutters.

• Decorating! And, of course, they enjoyed using frosting and sprinkles to decorate. Because my son is so little, I just made a few different colors of frosting in bowls and they used plastic knives to spread the frosting. But for older kids, consider frosting bags with fun tips. 

• Eating cookies. Yes, we're all wary of sugar. Yes, we're good parents. But seriously, let them eat a few. That's part of the fun.

Here are a few ideas for letting kiddos help with banana bread (whether you're cheating with a mix like us or baking from scratch).

• Smashing the bananas. (My kiddo loved this part.)

• Stirring the batter.

• Greasing the pan.

Now, I kind of thought that by being involved in the process, my kiddo would be more likely to TRY (that's all I'm looking for here) the banana bread. 

Alas, he asked to touch it. And every morning that week, he asked for a slice in the morning with breakfast, but he just carried it around. It never touched his picky, picky, picky, adorable lips.

Oh well. More for me, I guess.

We made it, guys. 2016 is nearly in the rearview mirror. I love this time of year — New Year’s represents a clean slate, a chance to reflect ... followed by a chance to be better and do better (and to make better meals).

But I’ve never been a fan of New Year’s Eve. I’ve never enjoyed the “scene” on that night (or any night if we’re being honest), and I’m not a big fan of the parties. I’d prefer to just be home with my family, off the roads and away from the masses. If it were up to me, we’d do a multi-course meal at home. Still, I know people love their NYE parties.

So, if you’re cooking for a crew, what better time to enlist the wee ones?

Here are a few ideas to involve kids of varying ages in the New Year’s Eve party prep action. Kids can:

• Wrap things in bacon or prosciutto — I like dates, figs and asparagus.

• Arrange the relish tray or cheese/meat/cracker broad

• Use a chopper to prep veggies

• Scoop filling into mushroom caps for stuffed mushrooms

• Shape the cheese ball (now that we’re dairy-free, I miss this treat so much)

• Roll meatballs (provided your kid wouldn’t eat the raw meat, grrr)

• Set/monitor timers

• Stuff olives for a martini bar

• Place wine charms on plastic glasses/flutes

• Stir (non-alcoholic) punch

• Help you do dishes as you go — hey, a girl can dream; besides, it’s an important lesson to teach

And a couple non-food-releated tasks:

• Set out decorations/party favors

• Fill party favor gift bags, if that’s your thing

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration!

Thanksgiving is about gathering with friends and family. It’s about expressing gratitude. And, of course, it’s about the food. Now, It's a high-stakes meal, yes, but that doesn't mean kids should be booted from the kitchen.

Here are 15 easy ways to get them involved:

1. Chopping onions and garlic (with a chopper for younger kids)

2. Combining stuffing in bowl

3. Watching timers

4. Measuring ingredients

5. Mixing salad dressing

6. Washing vegetables

7. Tearing lettuce for salad — Great for any age!

8. Basting the turkey — What a great way to keep kiddos engaged all day! And because they have a task at regular intervals, they can say they played a major role in the main event!

9. Seasoning vegetables

10. Rolling out pie dough

11. Crimping pie crust

12. Mashing potatoes — Fun for all ages!

13. Stirring the gravy — Which is great since you need to stir constantly. This way, you can focus on other last-minute items.

14. Making fresh whipped cream — Sure, they could use a mixer, but you can also let them burn up some energy by having them do it by hand. #meanmom

15. Setting the table

Enjoy the process of preparing this year's meal, and share that joy with your little ones.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

On Mondays, I try to work a reduced work schedule. Sometimes, I try to not work at all. My husband and I have chosen to put our son in daycare only four days a week, and Monday is our day off. This is made possible by the fact that I work for myself — and also by my parents, who are retired and love having time with their grandson.

Yesterday was a day when I needed to work some, but I didn’t need the full day. So, my boy and I could enjoy a slower-paced morning, and that meant we had time to make breakfast together. It had been awhile since we’ve been able to make pancakes, and I loved it.

This time, we used our usual pancake batter (egg-free and dairy-free) and added peanut butter for a little protein — and some Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips for a little fun.

What I discovered yesterday morning was how much my son loves not only whisking the batter, but pouring … oh, and making decisions.

Yes, it’s shocking (not!) that a toddler likes to have his voice heard.

But what he really did seem to love was saying, “More water,” and then actually being able to add water. If your kids are younger and you have the opportunity to let them help make the batter, I encourage you to consider making your initial proportions such that the batter is too thick. Then, they can request more liquid and actually have a say in the consistency of the batter. It’s a great cooking lesson, and it makes the exercise a lot more interactive for you as well.

Several months ago, we entered this lovely phase with my son wherein he doesn’t want to be out of Mama’s arms. Most times, Daddy was there. Daddy was willing to play with him or hold him. Whatever he wanted, Daddy would’ve done. But he wanted Mama. He wanted to be in on the cooking action, and that meant in my arms.

While cooking — ya know, with flames and knives — this concerned me. (See how good of a mom I am?) Enter the toddler stand as one way we dealt with this. But grilling is a different challenge. You’re inside and outside, in and out. For a while, the weather was nice enough that my son could just follow me in and out. He could see what I was doing from a safe distance and then go play outside.

But for several weeks now in Phoenix, it’s just been way too hot. I don’t want to linger by the grill. And I don’t want my fair-skinned, blond child out there either. Never mind that with the copious amounts of olive oil that I use that there are frequent flare-ups on the grill, so I really don’t want him in my arms while I manage the flame either.

That said, I love to grill — because being outside stinks, but heating up the whole house with the oven isn’t a great option either. So, if you believe in involving kiddos in the kitchen, how do you get them involved in grilling?

There are a few simple ways:

• Bring them along as you ignite the grill. As my then-1-year-old said when he saw the fire light up beneath the grates, “More! More!”

• Let them make marinades. My son frequently pours ingredients and stirs the marinade for our chicken and/or veggies.

• Let them prepare skewers. At the moment, I wouldn’t dare let my child near a skewer. (#goodmom) But as kids get older, stringing veggies on a skewer is good fun for them (and frankly, tedious meal prep you might prefer to avoid yourself).

• Invite them to season veggies. My son loves sprinkling (scratch that, dumping) salt, pepper and spices on our veggies.

• Let them wrap foil packets. If you’re doing corn or asparagus or anything else in a foil packet, let your kiddo wrap it up.

• Ask them to watch the timer. Need someone to tell you when to turn the meat or pull something off the grill? Assign it to a kiddo who needs a task.

But the weekends — in theory, anyway — allow for a bit more relaxed meal prep. Not to mention you might be making breakfasts or lunches in addition to dinners. As you think about your weekend meals, give some thought to a few ways you could involve your kiddos and let them be a part of the process. (And guess what: It can be easy! It really doesn't take much for them to feel like they helped.)

Here are 15 ways to get you started:

1. Meal planning. At dinner Friday night, throw out some options for meals and let the kiddo have a vote.

2. Grocery shopping. Take your kiddo to the store with you on Saturday morning. Let her pick a veggie or fruit. Let her check the eggs for cracks. Invite him to look for expiration dates.

3. Stirring. My almost-2-year-old can’t get enough of stirring. Salad dressings, marinades, pancake batter. Give him a whisk and a bowl of liquid, and he’s a happy little dude.

4. Spicing. My kiddo is also a big fan of adding the spices. He shakes (er, pours) salt and other spices onto veggies and into marinades.

5. Measuring. If you’re sticking to a recipe (or baking!), you’ll be busting out the measuring cups and spoons. Invite the kiddos to measure and pour. For younger kids, you can measure, and they can pour.

6. Pushing buttons. Even the littlest of sous chefs like to turn on the mixer or food processor.

7. Shucking and peeling. Even without a knife, kiddos can shuck corn or peel garlic. With older kids, hand ‘em a peeler and potato and put ‘em to work.

8. Juicing. Older, stronger kids can help squeeze the juice out of citrus. Littler ones can "help" you.

9. Timing. Let them set the egg timer (or count as high as they can!).

10. Rolling. If you make anything with a dough, hand over the rolling pin and let the kiddo take a shot.

11. Tearing. From tearing lettuce for a salad to pulling herb leaves off the stems, this knife-free activity is a good one for little helpers.

12. Shaking. Coating fish bites with a crust or chicken with a marinade? Throw everything in a freezer bag and let the kiddo shake it up.

13. Pounding. Tenderizing meat? Who doesn’t want their shot with a mallet?

14. Plating. Let kids have some creative fun and join in on the plating. Not just setting the table, but actually putting the food on the plate. Maybe they can help shake some powdered sugar over the French toast or add a sprig of rosemary to the main course.

15. Tasting. If your kiddo isn’t exactly digging cooking, that’s OK. To each his own, right? But what about tasting as you cook? This way, they get to be involved and give input and learn a little bit about the trial-and-error process that is cooking.

After a day of working, sometimes you barely have the time and energy to cook at all — much less the time to spare to invite your kiddo to "help." That's OK! If you don't have the time or patience to bring your kiddo into the fold every night (and seriously, who does?), give yourself a break. Because the reality is that it takes longer (just like everything else in your life), it's messier and it requires more patience.

But as I was reminded tonight, little ones don't need much to feel like they're helping. Tonight my son was so interested in helping that he gave us zero grief about washing his hands and expressly said: "Help." (Despite my invitations to go play.)

From my perspective, I had been later than usual to pick him up and was still planning on working more after his bedtime. Tonight was a meat-and-potatoes night. I hadn't even planned a proper veggie — so I really didn't need an assistant. But he took his spot next to me in the kitchen, and I'm so glad he did. I'm always trying to think of new things for him to do, but repetition and simplicity have their place.

I sliced the potatoes and put them into a bowl. Then, my kiddo — with supervision — poured the olive oil and salt (I did the pepper). He grabbed the spoon and stirred.

Then — and he's never done this before — he started to spoon the potatoes onto the baking sheet.

This showed me he knew the next step, so even if he hadn't done it before, it's clear he's been watching. And even though it made the process take longer, I've gotta say: It was a lot cuter.

So, remember: Involving kiddos in the kitchen is awesome. Doing it every night can be patience-draining, so just do what you can. BUT it doesn't need to be as complicated as you might think.

To be able to grow some of that food in our own backyard is a long-held goal. I see pictures of people in their gardens, and I think: Yes, I want that to be us. But I've gotta be honest ... It's more aspirational than anything. I have what you might call a brown thumb.

Still, when we planned our backyard a few years ago, we left a space for a garden, including the lines for the drip system. (That's how serious I was.) But that year I was pregnant and figured I didn't need a second new project. Then, the next year, I had a 9-month-old at planting time ... Um, no thanks. Then, this year, I had a 21-month-old.

So, while I didn't have an abundance of free time to build the full garden (oh, and to LEARN HOW TO GARDEN), I did want to try something. So, my son and I planted (OK, fine, transplanted) three herbs in containers plus one jalapeño plant.

I'm happy to report that two and a half months later: The herbs are STILL ALIVE, people — and I use the parsley in my bone broth and the basil weekly in tomato salads and sauces. The jalapeño is (technically) alive, too, but hardly thriving. Oh well. Three outta four ain't bad.

I'm looking forward to my son taking on more responsibility in our garden (and our garden getting bigger) as he gets older, but as an almost-2-year-old, he's been instrumental in preventing our plants from certain death. He loves going outside and playing with the water, so he reminds me daily that we need to water the plants — not because he knows the plants need water, but because he wants to water them — and the table and his shoes and other plants and weeds and the patio. That's OK. It's a start.

As kids get older, they can help plant, decide what to plant — and, of course, harvest. It's such a great way to help them see where food comes from. It's a fond memory I have of growing up, and I love sharing it with my son, even if it's just a few herbs (for now).