Adam is another fellow hardworking stay-at-home dad. He writes about his experiences with his son Isaac over at HangingwithDad.com. It can be difficult for me to find other dads to really relate to. So it’s always good to see other dads out there in the same position as me doing this work confidently and doing it well. Adam is one of those dads. Trying to keep this segment balanced and diverse as possible, I felt it was time to hear from another dad. Here is Adam to share his take on cooking.
COOKING AND THE KITCHEN
When Matt asked me to do a guest post for him I knew there was really only one topic that I could possibly write about that would truly fit what he does here, and that’s cooking. True it’s not my strongest suit, but we have had some fun in my household with it. I’m nowhere near the chef he seems to be, and I mostly stick to grilling or not veering from a recipe in any way, shape or form. Things work out best that way. (For the record, I wrote this while my wife watched Worst Cooks in America on Hulu)
Even though cooking isn’t something I’d put on my list of strengths, it’s something I don’t mind doing and it’s something that I think is important that I continue to do as Isaac gets older for a variety of reasons.
The first one is that my wife LOVES to cook. She is what you’d call an actual cook. I can follow a recipe, but she can look at a recipe, figure out in her mind what it’s going to taste like and adjust it accordingly so that it tastes exactly how she wants it. Me? I have no clue what it’s going to end up like based on the recipe, so I don’t mess with it at all. For Erin, cooking is a release from the day and a way to spend quality time together. That is as good a reason as any for me to help and try to inspire Isaac to want to be a part of that.
The second is that, being a stay-at-home dad, I need to maximize Erin’s time with Isaac. If I used my inferiority in the kitchen as an excuse not to do anything, it would take away important time that she has with him during the evening. Let’s face it, we can all chop potatoes or squash and pan fry or boil them. It’s not rocket science. To refuse to be involved in the process is too weak an excuse to actually try and use.
There’s another important aspect to helping with the cooking in the house, and that is teaching Isaac that men can (and should) cook. I don’t want him being a stereotypical male who doesn’t know his way around the kitchen, or who thinks that cooking is a woman’s work. So he’ll see me trying my best to help out around the kitchen, he’ll see me make a dinner or two a week, I’ll make his breakfasts and pack his lunch.
I want him to grow up loving to cook and know how to both follow recipes and create dishes on his own. I want him to learn to enjoy his food and want to try new things.
I’ll just leave the real teaching to his mother.
