Is our cooking time together becoming leverage? Since when does spending time in a kitchen become a method of insurance for getting what a child wants. Brilliant! She knows my buttons for sure.
Our recipe this week was somewhat of a metaphor to life. In Eden's little mind she was willing to put the work in to create a food she adores. What she didn't count on was the amount of time needed to create this genius food.
"I think that's a great idea Hun, we certainly can make crackers. Let's check to make sure we have the ingredients."
After all ingredients were scavenged for, it was time to read the recipe all the way through so that we have a complete understanding of what is expected of the task. It turns out that the dough needs to sit for 12 to 24 hours before being able to roll it out and score it.
"WHAT? What does that mean? I can't eat them today?"
"Nope, we get to prepare the dough today, let the dough continue to work it's magic for one night's sleep and then tomorrow after Kindergarten we get to finish the work."
"That takes a long time. I didn't know that."
"Do you still want to make them?"
After a minute of pensive thought she asks, "will they taste like the crackers you made?"
"yes."
"Ok, we'll start it now and finish it tomorrow. But can I eat some right away tomorrow?"
I just loved this situation because it inadvertently taught her about delayed gratification. She had shown disappointment when she realized she wasn't going to get what she expected originally, she evaluated the value of the changed plan, she decided that the end result was worth the wait and thought into the future enough to know that she indeed will get the satisfaction of eating the crackers....she just has to wait a bit longer.
What a life lesson. Some times we need to work hard and spend time towards things that are worth the investment. Somehow, I bet that these crackers will taste even better in her opinion than mine did...not because they are different but because she experienced first hand the sacrifices she made to create them.
Today's cracker recipe was from Nourished Kitchen. Visit www.foodkin.ca for the link, located under "Goodies and Resources" and then "recipes".
Cheers!
Stacey Haley
