Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Abby Hicks, 8, measures a half-teaspoon of garlic powder for a spaghetti dish Tuesday as her mother, Kelly Hicks, assists while the two prepare dinner through the Cooking with Kids class at Shawano Community High School. The class, available to Hillcrest Primary School families, was made possible through $1,000 the school district received through the Healthier U.S. Challenge.
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Maisie Calkins, 4, cuts a tomato using a child-safe plastic knife at Shawano Community High School. The Cooking with Kids class offers dishes that can be prepared by anyone, regardless of age or skill set.
Staring intently at the tomato on the counter in front of her, Maisie Calkins, a 4-year-old Hillcrest Primary School student, carefully cuts it into two pieces as her father watches.
Nearby, in the Shawano Community High School classroom, another Hillcrest student, Abby Hicks, 8, carefully levels off a half-teaspoon of garlic powder to prepare an entree.
Cooking with Kids is a four-week class offered by the Shawano School District for Hillcrest students and parents. Together they learn to make entrees, side dishes and desserts. This week, the young cooks created a spaghetti dish with spinach, roasted vegetable ribbons and an apple crisp.
The course is funded by a $1,000 Healthier U.S. Challenge award.
“The children learn about healthier nutrition through eating together as a family, proper handwashing and the preparation of food,” said Sarah Moesch, the district’s food services director.
The kids colored and decorated their own chef hats the first week. Each week, once the food is ready, the families sit and eat together.
When the class concludes, the families get a cookbook featuring the recipes they have learned, glass cooking dishes and plastic knives that are safe for children to use.
Moesch said she is seeing a lot of growth with the students and what they eat.
“I truly enjoy watching the kids trying new recipes and how proud they are of the things they made,” Moesch said. “Some of the kids were eating vegetables their parents didn’t know they liked.”
The class is a learning experience for students and parents alike.
“Some of the parents have never used measuring cups or measuring spoons,” Moesch said. “Others were getting right in there and throwing things in the oven.”
Carey Grieves, Shawano School District’s health coach and a ThedaCare wellness coordinator, said more and more families are not able to take the time or do not have the desire to prepare proper, nutritional meals for their families.
“Unfortunately, that means we don’t have kids exposed to home-cooked meals as much,” Grieves said. “We just saw a need in this area.”
The class gives parents ideas for preparing simple meals with their children, Grieves said. The dishes don’t require any special skills, so children of any age can cook with the proper supervision, she said.
“The younger that we can get the kids exposed, the more likelier they are to eat their meal and eat their fruits and vegetables,” Grieves said. “It’s really neat to see how these kids can measure and do things.”
Nicole Aguilar said she took the class with her 5-year-old son, Dawson, to teach him cooking skills and hopefully motivate herself to take more time to help her kids eat healthier.
Between work and raising four children, Aguilar has difficulty finding time to prepare meals. The class is helping her plan ahead, she said.
“This is a good class to learn how to budget my time and my money,” Aguilar said. “There’s no way I would have touched this meal because of the vegetables that were in them. I don’t like them, but I try them so that he will learn to enjoy them.”
Jessica Weiland cooks every day, but she wanted to participate in the class to bond with her 6-year-old daughter, Claire. Weiland has three children, which sometimes makes it difficult to find one-on-one time at home.
“Each kid needs a little time for themselves,” Weiland said.
“I learned how to cook a lot of stuff,” Claire said, noting that the apple crisp was her favorite dish of the night.
Grieves said 29 families wanted to take the class, but the program could only accommodate 18. The district is looking for additional funding to host classes for anyone interested in participating, she said.