“S-w-e-e-t, my mom bought Hostess cakes!”
“Really? Does your mom, like, never buy sweet stuff for you guys?”
“Are you kidding? Why would she? My mom bakes cookies, cakes, and pies all the time!”
My son Wesley came home appalled. A dish is only as good as its ingredients. We know when we use fresh produce instead of canned that the dish is going to have a higher nutritional value, that we are going to experience much better flavor.
I don’t start with a box mix. I cook from scratch. I make my cakes with flour, fresh eggs, butter, sugar, and chocolate. People notice and love my baking. Sure, anyone can go to Costco and buy a chocolate cake, but it has three paragraphs of obscure ingredients on the metallic label and a metallic taste to match.
I believe every child is like a blank recipe card and that our job as educators is to teach them how to bring their unique spice to a bland world. Each child possesses a unique cabinet brimming with flavor. One might be like chili powder (which you really need to make a good pot of chili), another cinnamon mixed with sugar, yet another oregano (which gives a great background flavor to many dishes).
What if our job is to challenge our children to explore the potential of their flavor? Let’s help our children develop their unique recipe for life.
– Sara With this new year, we welcome a new contributor to four&twenty!
Sara and I actually grew up in the same town by the sea. We lived parallel lives as children and as grown-ups, moved miles away from our hometown to the same small town location raising our children. Go and figure. My teaching career took a sharp turn at an unexpected bend in the road when our paths finally crossed at a garage sale. We became fast friends and kitchen table philosophers. Her wisdom is an orchard teeming with fruit. I know you will be blessed!
Welcome to the conversation Sara! Read more about Sara here.
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