I have such a lot of fond recollections standing on a chair and assisting my dad and mom inside the kitchen as a child. Even before I had my daughter Ellie, I’d pictured baking excursion cookies and making homemade pasta sauce with my very own children assisting me inside the kitchen.
But the ones photos in my head always worried a lot of older children – children who can really help in the kitchen. I never pictured a younger toddler standing at the kitchen counter with me, even though Ellie apparently has a special image in her head.
She likes to examine and is constantly interested in what I’m doing, so if I leave her to play on the floor at the same time as I’m cooking or baking, she’s no longer a pleased camper. She’s only one year, so it’s clearly not secure to have her stand on a chair by using the counter.
Enter the Guidecraft Kitchen Helper. It’s an enclosed adjustable kitchen stool that adequately places Ellie properly at the counter with me, and even though it’s $169, it has been a complete game-changer and is absolutely well worth the rate.
Before I had the Kitchen Helper, I’d try to cook food with one hand even as I held Ellie inside the different. This wasn’t clean or secure, particularly when I became close to the range or I needed to use a knife. Now, she gets to look at everything I’m doing, even as I actually have each finger free, and she’s happy and entertained the entire time.
The whole product is manufactured from excellent and robust timber. The stool folds up in no time and without difficulty while you need to store it and takes much less than a minute to unfold and set up while you’re geared up to use it. I may even set it up with one hand if I’m keeping Ellie in the different.
The stool comes with a nonslip mat for children to face simultaneously as inside the stool and a Kitchen Helper Keeper, which is a mesh masking for the open side of the stool where youngsters would step in or out. Once Ellie receives large sufficient, we’ll take this off to climb in and out on her own, but for now, it enables keep her safe and comfy within the stool.
The Kitchen Helper is available in 5 unique colors so that you can pick out the one that first-rate suits your kitchen. We selected white. I like the layout because it seems more like a bit of furniture than a children’s item or toy. However, it has a few lovable features that would maintain youngsters entertained, like shape cutouts on the perimeters (more on that later), a bit chalkboard on one facet, and a little whiteboard on the opposite side. Since Ellie is still so young, she hasn’t used these yet. However, I may want to see them laugh for her to play with or write the dinner menu while she gets older.
For now, Ellie loves looking at me from the stool at the same time as playing with bowls and measuring cups. I also use the stool to feed her a touch appetizer if she gets hungry, even as I’m still cooking dinner. I like that I can nonetheless supervise her whilst she’s consuming, as an alternative of getting her run away whilst I’m nevertheless inside the kitchen.
This stool has already made preparing meals so much much less demanding, and I can tell that Ellie loves it too, because if I begin cooking without her in the Kitchen Helper, she’ll stroll over to it and factor at it.
When she gets older, she’ll be capable of using the stool to help me put together ingredients and cook food truly. It’s so essential for youngsters to research the technique of the way meals receives to the desk, so this is a remarkable product to start teaching that from a young age.
Safety first
A great deal of research as I did earlier than shopping for this stool and as robust because it has been so far, there may usually be the possibility that Ellie could attempt to climb out or fall, so I constantly maintain a very close eye on her so I’d urge you to do the equal with this or another product.
It would help if you also were very cautious with what you put on the counter in the stool’s front; you would be surprised at how a long way those little fingers can attain. Make sure you preserve any dangerous, warm, or sharp objects nicely out of fingers’ reach.
Potential cons to taking into account
The nonslip mat tends to fall off lots once I fold the Kitchen Helper to store it. This is an extra minor inconvenience. However it’s something to don’t forget.
I’m also not a massive fan of the decorative square, superstar, and circle cutouts on the edges because they may be the precise foothold for my little climber. If you’re using this for a little one, you may want to be especially cautious after they enter the mountain climbing stage that Ellie is currently in. Once she’s a bit older, I do not assume this can be a trouble.
