As you've probably noticed, children are constantly on the lookout for autonomy! They want to do things for themselves... even as toddlers. That's what Maria Montessori noticed.

One of her best-known quotes is "help me to do it alone". She had observed that children are constantly on the lookout to do things for themselves, and she developed a whole pedagogy that enables them to do so on a daily basis.

In fact, she advocated giving them this autonomy in all their gestures and in every room of the house. Today, we'd like to share with you 9 tips you can easily apply at home to help your child become more independent in the kitchen. 
 

1. autonomy from an early age.

When you take the time to observe children, you realize that they are constantly looking for ways to do things on their own. They want to do without adult help. By succeeding on their own, they grow up!

That's why they love to take part in daily life and household chores. As Maria Montessori explained, children enjoy what we adults call "chores". These little everyday tasks help them develop their skills. She called these everyday activities "practical life". 

Your role as a parent is to organize your home and the overall environment in which your child evolves to enable him or her to make these experiments. By taking part in all these little everyday tasks, your little one will feel recognized not only as an important member of the family, but also as an individual in his or her own right.

This will boost their self-confidence and sense of achievement.
This design can take shape in any room of your home... Especially your kitchen, which is an almost inexhaustible source of experimentation for children of all ages!

2. Designing your kitchen to facilitate independence.

Tip N°1: Give your child free access to the products he or she uses alone. 

What better way to get started than to give your child the chance to pick up all the utensils and tools he knows how to use on his own? That way, he won't have to ask you to use them.

In particular, you can leave plates, cutlery, glasses and placemats at the table... He can then set the table when mealtime arrives. He can do all this himself. The idea is to let him take on this responsibility from A to Z, without him needing your help once. 

Tip N°2: Make your worktop accessible.

Take a moment to put yourself in your child's shoes. You're in the kitchen, chopping tomatoes for a salad. You wash the tomatoes, drain them and then slice them before arranging them in the dish. What does your child see while you're doing all this?

But he can't watch you do each step, because he's too small to see what's on the work surface... and he's even less able to participate and learn to do it himself! And so he can even less participate and learn to do it himself! How frustrating that can be for him!

By giving your child a view of the work surface and your activities, you'll be helping him or her to learn from your actions. Children are much more sensitive to visual rather than verbal instructions.

So it's much easier for a child to understand what it means to wash tomatoes if they see you doing it, running them under the water, rubbing their skin... rather than hearing you tell them how to do it.

If it's at worktop height, it'll be able to see you proceed. 

What's more, it can do all this on its own, under your supervision.

This will enable him to develop a whole host of new skills, and it will also boost his self-esteem. 

That's why we recommend our observation tower. It gives your child access to the work surface, at your height, in complete safety!

Practical, it's easy to move around thanks to its two wheels. You'll be able to find different formats to suit the composition of your family, and enhance it with different options to diversify its potential!   

Tip No. 3: Install an easily accessible water point. 

Another tip for encouraging your child's independence in the kitchen is to provide access to water. Perhaps you could offer him a small station at his height?

On it, you could place his cups and a water fountain?

This will enable him to drink as soon as he feels the need, while developing his fine motor skills (pressing the button on the water cooler, filling his glass, bringing it to his mouth...).

Of course, water is likely to be spilled. So be sure to provide sponges or towels so that your child can wipe up on his or her own.  

Tip N°4 to encourage your child's autonomy in the kitchen: a "wash-up" station at his or her height.

Once the meal is over, your child certainly has a bit of it all over his mouth, doesn't he?

How about setting up a place for him to wipe himself? We often tend to do it for them. But in the end, it's quite possible to give them the opportunity to do it themselves.

To do this, you can set up an area in your kitchen where you can prepare: a mirror at the child's height, wet gloves and a small laundry basket, for example. Your child can then wash up on his own, without any help from you. 

 
3. Promote your child's independence in the kitchen. 

Tip No. 5: Introduce your child to all utensils!

It's not uncommon, often due to our own upbringing, to prevent children from using certain utensils.

However, in the Montessori pedagogy, we advise allowing them to experiment as soon as children are able to do so. To do this, we stay close by and show them how to proceed.

Of course, there's no question of giving your child a knife and letting him try it out on his own. The idea is to gradually familiarize him with this tool. For example, there are fringe knives with round tips.

They enable children to cut safely. These Montessori cutting blades are designed for children's small hands and fine motor skills, so they can use all their strength to cut. There are as many possible experiments as there are possible utensils.

If your child doesn't yet have the motor skills to cut on his own, perhaps you could suggest squeezing citrus fruits or stirring food in a bowl?

The aim of this tip is to introduce your child to new kitchen utensils and tools at every stage and age... to satisfy his or her thirst for experimentation! 

Tip N°6: Invite your child to help prepare meals.

Getting ready to cook?

Why not ask your child to help you?

You can then entrust him with tasks that he can carry out independently.

This will help them feel as useful as any other member of the family! 

Tip 7: Ritualize the table setting.

Here's another practical idea you can easily implement with your child... even if he's small!

Remember, children like to take part in everyday tasks. These are not "chores" for them. On the contrary! They feel they're doing something important.

Something only the "greats" do. So invite him to set the table and lay the place settings. He can then carry the plates and cutlery one by one. It's a real job for him.

As well as boosting his concentration, this will help him gain self-confidence. For a child, playing at decanting objects or setting the table are two jobs! There's no hierarchy between these two activities! 

Tip N°8: In the kitchen, offer autonomy during meals.

When it comes to mealtime, always ask yourself whether what you're about to do would be a useful help or not? Can your child do it alone? For example, if he drops some pasta next to his plate, can he pick it up himself?

When you serve him his plate, would he have been able to help himself to the dish? These are just a few ideas, but a little daily reflection will help you give your little one even greater autonomy in the kitchen! 

Tip No. 9: What can he do after eating?

Our final tip for independence in the kitchen concerns after-meal time. What can your child do? Can he clean up? Put out the trash? Clean the dishes? See what tasks you could entrust to him/her.

In his eyes, it's a real vote of confidence. You're "entrusting" him with something important.

To help your child become more independent in the kitchen, we recommend our washing station, which can be used to wash hands and/or cutlery after a meal, for example.

We hope you find these tips useful in your day-to-day work.

Finally, the most important thing is the vision of autonomy you'll have as an adult.

It's not always easy to question what you've always seen, heard or done. But taking a step back and asking yourself: "Could he do it on his own?" can make all the difference in the world. Sometimes all it takes is a pinch of salt to encourage your child's autonomy in the kitchen... And if you have any other tips, don't hesitate to share them in the comments!