I really miss it. Our kitchen in Saudi Arabia. This is where so many wonderful memories took place and lots of bonding while we cooked together and explored new recipes.
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| Abe and Mimi's eating space and cleaning space (left) |
The kitchen is an important place in every home. It is the heart of the home and that's why it's so important to accommodate your child by giving them opportunities to participate in kitchen work.
As always, when setting up a space for your child you must keep it very organized and simple. It helps to break down the steps in your brain and even practice how you model setting the table, putting away the dishes, doing the dishes, cleaning up a mess etc., before introducing these things to your toddler. You want to make sure all the tools and materials your child might need to complete these tasks are easily accessible. So here is a look our (old) setup!
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| Table Setup Drawer #1 I was foruntate enough to have three empty drawers in my kitchen so I arranged them in order of what goes first to last when setting the table. For drawer one, I had place mats, napkins and cutlery. |
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| Table Setup Drawer #2 Plates and bowls were in the next drawer below. |
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| Table Setup Drawer #3 In the next drawer below drawer two I placed cups and pitchers (milk creamers). Milk creamers worked great for us as pitchers. They were just the right size for their small hands and also didn't take up so much space on the table. |
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| Dirty Dish Bucket The clean up is just as important as the setup, so I also set up a place to put the dirty dishes. Since the sink was not easily accessible without a stool this was the best option for us. When they were finished they knew to put their dishes in the bucket, though they needed a reminder sometimes! |
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| Hand Washing Station |
This was my attempt to make a hand washing station. This was mostly set up for Mimi since at that time (about 18 months - 2 years) she couldn't reach the sink in our bathroom even with a stool and faucet extender. When she wanted to wash her hands she would ask for water in the pitcher. She would then pour the water in the basin and complete her hand washing and dump the water in the bucket below. Although there was some dependency on me, she was still very happy to be able to care of herself.
So that's a quick view of our (old) kitchen. With a little thought and effort you can really make such a huge difference in your child's home environment. Stay tuned for some fun posts on our schooling adventures in Dubai!
