My husband has been on a family film kick lately. Whenever he has some free time, he’s putting old photos together into slideshows or compiling videos of the kids when they were younger.
I’ve been watching a lot of the videos in the past couple of weeks. They’re all so bittersweet – seeing the children so tiny. Learning to talk, learning to eat, learning to walk. I’ve loved being able to watch so many of those precious moments that I haven’t thought of in too long.
But I noticed something after watching dozens of videos. I noticed how much the kids had changed, of course, but also noticed how much the house has changed.
The house is more cluttered with stuff, of course, since we have more children and more belongings. But especially the kitchen clutter struck me.
There were so many old pictures of the kids in the kitchen. Playing on the floor happily while I put a meal together.
Standing in a chair at the sink and splashing water as they “helped” wash dishes. Sitting on the counter, helping me pour and stir ingredients together.
They still help in the kitchen, but it really hit me how the kitchen used to be the center of our home. That’s changed over the last few years and I want to change it back.
I want to reclaim my kitchen.
Wolf is sharing great ideas for reclaiming the kitchen. Here are a few great ideas for spending more quality time as a family in the kitchen:
• Plan your meals. Find a meal planning app or a website you love and incorporate it into your day-to-day planning.
• Celebrate the goodness of food. Buy and prepare fresh food to make even your simplest meals absolutely delicious.
• Cook together. Set aside “screens-off” time, and spend time with one another while helping out in the kitchen.
I love the idea of taking back that wonderful space we enjoyed so many years ago and plan to make changes to get that back. In addition to the great tips from Wolf, I have a couple of ideas myself for how I can include the children in meal preparation.
Instead of trying to rush through the shopping when the kids are in school, I want to share the experience with the kids. Let them choose some of their favorite fruits and vegetables so they’ll be more excited about helping to prepare them.
I also think the kids would enjoy experimenting more in the kitchen. I’ll let them try an exotic food we’ve never tried before or will set aside some time to try an unusual new recipe. They’ll love having helping with the meal planning, the grocery shopping and the food preparation.
Be sure to check out the great resources featured on Wolf’s Reclaim the Kitchen site and see which tools will work for your family!
What are your favorite ways to make your kitchen the center of your home?
Learn more about Wolf and Reclaim the Kitchen:
This blog post is part of a paid SocialMoms and Wolf blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.