Cooking and Parenting Milestone for Me

It brings to mind the horrifying opening scene from the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, but then I have to remember that Jeannette was 3 when she caught on fire making her own hotdogs unsupervised, while Celia is already 9. And Celia did managed to take the chicken out of the oven without burning herself or setting the kitchen on fire.

Our kids are now old enough to stay home alone for short periods, and they are eager to do so. Earlier this week, I got home from taking Solomon to his guitar lesson at 5:45, and I had to go to an evening event at 6:30. Andrew couldn't get home from work until 7, so I decided to leave Solomon and Celia home for half an hour, which is no big deal. But, I didn't manage to get their dinner into the oven until 6:15, and it had to come out at 6:45. Celia eagerly volunteered for the job of head chef while I was gone. I was nervous--this was a first, but I decided that she was ready for the responsibility. Though she's the younger of our children, she cooks with me a lot and has taken a professional cooking class.

I set the kitchen timer, set out the oven mitts, and went over her duties with her: she'd need to turn off the alarm, put on the mitts, take the chicken out of the oven and put it on top of the stove, and turn off the oven. I was only mildly terrified, but when I called to check in at 6:50, all was well. Celia was so proud of her accomplishment, and the three of them polished off the apricot chicken.