"COOK THIS.. Love, Mom"

When I was a kid, my mom would leave a to-do list on the counter each day.  The list included ingredients and instructions on how to cook whatever I was supposed to make for dinner that day.   Often, the necessary items were piled up on the counter top and the meat was labeled in the fridge "COOK THIS.. Love, Mom"

I was responsible for picking my little sister up from the babysitter's house on the walk home from Jr. High.  I learned a lot during this time.  In addition to cooking dinner most nights, I often ironed, ran laundry, helped get my step-dad ready for work & got my baby sister fed, bathed, & ready for bed.  But I missed out on a lot too.

As I got older, my family & friends would ask how I knew to cook so many things and I would simply explain that I had to learn and be responsible from a fairly young age.  Once, my mom overheard a friend asking how I came to be a "good cook"... My mom jumped in before I could respond and proudly said, "She learned all this thanks to me!!"  Though it is true that I learned so much from my mom, I don't think that she has ever understood that I would have liked to learn in a different way. I'm not sure I could get the idea across without being hurtful.

Anyway, now that my daughters are getting old enough to learn to cook & to take on more & more responsibility, I try to spend time with them teaching them the things that my mom taught me.  My goal is to teach in a different way.  Naomi loves to cook with me & I love spending the time with her.

(I have to bribe Hannah into cooking, and she does so occasionally, but never with the interest & gusto that Naomi does!)

Naomi & I have lots of fun together!  I'm so glad that I get to give my girls a different experience that the one I had!