Budding Chef

I'm trying to get Calin more involved in the kitchen. A boy should know how to cook, and I figure if he's old enough to read well and understands fractions, then it's time he learns. First things first though, learning to follow a recipe. I don't want him to be one of those guys who can only cook eggs and man the grill. I want him to be able to make dinner too. As a missionary, I'm sure he'll be content to eat hot dogs and mac & cheese every night, probably even as a college student. But one day he'll have a girl he wants to impress and what better way than a home cooked (man-cooked) meal? Someday he'll have a family and I dearly hope he'll be like his father. If he comes home from work and the house is a mess, and the kids are screaming, and his wife looks exhausted, I hope he'll be wise enough to step in and make dinner. And he can't do that unless I teach him how. And so begin the cooking lessons. First up: Sweet and Sour Chicken

He's not quite ready to handle raw meat, so I had him make the sauce instead. He did it mostly by himself, he read the recipe, found the ingredients, sorted through measuring cups. He did need a little help with the measuring since he hasn't yet learned the basic things. He hasn't learned to pay attention to detail yet as he was ready to fill a 1/2 cup with garlic powder instead of a 1/2 tsp. And he needed to be taught to take the shaker top off the garlic powder to fill the measuring spoon, not just try to shake in the right amount. But I realize doing it on his own (supervised) is going to be the best teacher. He's helped me bake cookies and treats plenty of times, but I've always just measured the ingredients then let the kids dump them in and take turns stirring.
Anyway, he did a good job on the sauce. I hope getting him more involved will help him eat better. One thing I love about Darin is that he NEVER complains about my cooking. I'm not a very good cook to begin with, but when something burns or turns out completely wrong, he laughs along with me and encourages me. Not once has he ever criticized what I made or how I made it. He just eats it and thanks me.
I need to figure out how to get my  kids to do that. Naiya doesn't complain much, she is very much into eating healthy foods and is pretty open to trying new things. Calin though, what a bugger. I do admit he has been much better about it as he has gotten older, he complains less but still won't eat many foods. My goal is to have them accept what they're given and say thank you, so that when we are at other people's homes they won't be rude and turn their noses up to the cooking. Calin is learning though, the other day we had chimichangas and he quietly picked out the red bell peppers as he ate. I think I need to institute a no-tolerance policy for complaints to the chef. You complain, you spend dinner in your room and don't eat until breakfast. It's exhausting to put time and effort into making a meal only to hear someone whine about it. I want Calin to learn now that it is not acceptable, so that he never does it on his mission, or to his wife.  I don't think that's unreasonable. And I don't care if he misses a meal, he won't starve. Hopefully, he'll learn it's better to eat dinner than go hungry, and I won't have to say a word. Love and Logic would be appalled if I thought about saying "I told you so" or even pointed out to him the lesson he should have learned. Kids learn through experience and they don't need an adult to rub salt in the wound.
Wow, I just realized what a rambling tangent that was. Anyhow. I'm teaching Calin how to cook. Yay!