How Do You Incorporate Chocolate With Your Family?

Vanessa , today's guest post author, is a mother of two girls and the founder of I Never Grew Up, a website to help parents educate, care for and entertain their children. She is a contributor at Blissful Kids at Blissfully Domestic, Little Window Shoppe and Today's Mama.


As a family, we love to cook together, it is a wonderful time to have fun and bond as a family. Our family's favorite ingredient to cook with, hands down, is chocolate. When we plan our celebration for Valentine's Day we think of chocolate first! Our favorite chocolate desserts to cook as a family are: Flour-less Chocolate Cake, Molten Chocolate Lava Cake, Chocolate Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chocolate Truffles. Cooking with your children has numerous benefits: It teaches your children mathematics, gives your child a sense of pride and accomplishment, will help your children try new things and they are also more likely to eat what they help make. (Not that it is to hard to talk your children into eating chocolate. :) )


In our home we have a silly tradition of "dolling" ourselves up for cooking special treats. We wear fun bright aprons, put on our favorite lip gloss and dance around to our favorite music. Our last chocolate recipe that we made with love was Chocolate Oreo Truffles.




Tips for Cooking with Your Children

1. Prepare by reading the recipe together and gathering the ingredients and tools before beginning to cook.
2. Allow your child to choose a recipe, to give them a sense of control and self worth.
3. Laugh and Have Fun! Try to be patient, have a sense of humor and enjoy yourself!

Check out these fun Valentine's Day ideas from Vanessa at INeverGrewUp.net to help you have a wonderful holiday with your children:

* Heart Photo Arrangement
* I Love You So Much Game
* Family Heart Game
* Chocolate Oreo Truffles