Speaking of babies…my baby Spence will be our guest on our next show « Cooking with Kids » …Okay, maybe he isn’t so much a baby anymore; he just turned 14. But in my heart he will always be the tiny baby boy that the doctor placed in my arms at 1 :01am that cold day in December. In that moment my life changed forever. I became the luckiest person on the planet. I have to remind myself of the moment we first met more often these days as he has reached his teen years and towers over me at almost 6 feet tall !

Communicating with a teenager can be well… lets just say…challenging. All you parents of teens out there know from which I speak! Finding time together without distractions; no internet, no tv, no video games , no texting…isn’t easy. Not to mention how hard it is to get them to answer you with anything more than a mono-syllabic grunt! Opening up and talking about their feelings is like pulling teeth so a girlfriend of mine told me about a great website: www.canadianparents.com.

They have a section on “big kids”, articles and advice about exactly what’s going on in our house. Very comforting to know I’m not alone! I liked the site so much I wrote a blog for them about “speedy suppers” (I figured it was the least I could do since their advice on teens has restored my faith in humanity!) Check out both my blog and their site and tell me what you think!

I try to get my son in the kitchen as much as possible. Whether he helps chop something up or makes a pizza for his buddies or just sits at the island while we are cooking dinner. It doesn’t always happen with everyone going in all different directions but when it does I really take stock. For me, the kitchen is the epicenter of any house and I have many fond memories of sitting cross-legged on our yellow Formica kitchen countertop in the house I grew up in. Back then, my parents and my eight siblings came and went in all directions too, so I guess not much has changed. When I was a kid, I loved watching everything happen from my perch on the counter. Homework was done at the kitchen table, boyfriends stopped by for a quick bowl of chili on Saturdays, my parents’ friends were entertained with wine and sharp cheddar cheese. There was always someone dropping by. Nowadays, I love the “drop-ins”; whether it’s one of my sisters or a friend just stopping in for a cup of tea I take it as a compliment if someone feels comfortable enough to hop up on my countertop and just hang out in my kitchen.

Being an admittedly over protective Mom, I struggle with the balance of letting my kid learn from his mistakes and wanting to cover him head to toe in bubble wrap! Spence is a great person; smart, funny, kind and he has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known. I have to trust all that throughout these next few scary teen years… Mary mother of pearl help us all… and hopefully every once in a while he will hop up on our kitchen countertop, unsolicited, for no other reason than to just to hang out with our family. Check out « Cooking with Kids » and my son Spence making some easy fudge, this Saturday at 7pm or again on Sunday @ 630pm.

Until next time,
Jack