When in Doubt...Bake Cookies

by Kori Rodley Irons | More from this Blogger

I fully believe in the healing properties of cookie baking. I've found over nearly two decades of parenting that nothing can heal a rift, provide the environment for negotiation, or just change a subject or topic of dispute better than an afternoon cookie-baking session.

One of the great things about cookie baking as a parenting skill is that the level of complication of the cookies can be adjusted to the task at hand. A longer, more delicate negotiation or a bonding experience after a particularly harrowing disagreement calls for sugar cookies or some type of cookie that takes several steps--mixing, rolling, cutting, decorating, etc. While a quick catch-up on the day's activities can be done over some remove-from-the-freezer and drop and bake cookies.

Cooking baking need not only be matched to the activity or the parenting task at hand--it can also be tailored and matched to a specific child--one might respond better to the making of peanut butter cookies, while another may find making a big pan of fudgy brownies to be the most satisfying.

Over the years, I've become pretty stealth and adept at roping one (or more) of my children into a cookie baking operation without them realizing it. They will be standing in the kitchen or sitting on one of the stools at our large open counter. As we chat, argue or debate, I'll get out the mixing bowl, start dropping in the ingredients, hand them a big wooden spoon and before they even realize it, we're making a batch of chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies between us. It's pretty hard to stay grumpy or snarky when you're participating in the magic of making cookies. And, even harder once those gooey delights are extracted from the oven to cool on a plate or rack...

And, baking cookies isn't just for the kids--you'll be amazed at how your own outlook, disposition and openness changes as you measure, mix, stir and drop!

See Also: The Healing Properties of a Peanut Butter Sandwich and The Most Popular Room in the House

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