Salad Spinner

I am a firm believer in the theory that if your children help you in the kitchen, they are more likely to eat a variety of foods. Once they have a hand in preparing their meal, they will want to try what they made.

Of course, I don't have that problem with Tali (yet, it could still happen!), but I still want her be very comfortable in the kitchen. Since she's too young to help with most tasks, I try to find things that she can do. Lately, her favorite "job" has been to spin the salad. This will occupy her for 10-15 minutes - it's great! She loves to spin then check the lettuce to see if it's ready. (In the video, she's saying "not ready yet" as she puts the cover back on the bowl.)

Until I started giving her this task, she'd try lettuce then just spit it out. Now, she'll take a bite, chew, swallow and then throw the rest of the leaf in the garbage. Hey, it's progress. And I guess that means the theory works.