my 9 year old baby girl wants to be a culinary chef. what can be done to let her see if this is what she wants

Should I speak to counselors? contact Schools? do schools allow tours for someone so young?

Public Comments

1. just wait for her to find out herself if this is really what she wants to do in life. it will take many tries until they will find what they are successful at.
2. teach her to cook and bake and make her do all the clean up work. She's too young to worry about actual schools right now
3. Do you have a friend that works in a restaurant in a kitchen?? Maybe she will let her sit in a few hours to see what its' all about.. Children are so undecided as to what they want at that age.. They may want to be a chef today and a doctor tomorrow..
4. keep exposing her to food, ingredients, recipes, and clean-up. Basically encourage her all you can. My first food experience was in 4H ( i don't even know if they are around). The best is to expose her to restaurants, obviously not chains. Expand her palate by having her try different foods. This may take some time
5. get a couple of children's cookbooks and have her put on a small party w/mom in the background. help her menu plan and she sets the table and cleans up. making it a black tie event would be fun. she is still very young and if she continues on this road then in junior high i would speak to a counselor since she would need good math skills and home ec, if offered. have fun. 1 hand, sorry
6. Well, I admire you for being so concerned about your child's hopes/dreams. I think that its a parent's job to motivate kids and give them high self esteems letting them know that even at a young age, that their thoughts and desires are equally important..... do like a family fun night at your house. Give you daughter a chance to cook for you and the family...... Make it fun,,,,, also you could tape record it...... You could also talk to a culinary school and see if they would give her a tour..... 9 times out of 10 they will not deny you a tour...... Plus this will be a good experience for your daughter. Good luck
7. My son is now 13 and he thought he wanted to be a chef when he was 10 so I started letting him help me prepare the meals. he had to make one dish from beginning to end. Then it became two then it got to where he wanted to cook all the time and now he has decided that he wants to really become a chef. I knew that it would either make him want to or not to want to do this for a living and he loves to cook. He even has his friends over for game night ( video games) and he cooks the appetizers and the food for them.
8. Start with going to the book store and finding kids cookbooks start her slowly for kids do change thier minds- encourage her with letting her help out in the kitchen at home- Possibly have her make dinner for family and friends- Find out if she likes backing/ pasteries / or Entree cooking and consintrate on one at a time- You have plenty of time before she is ready to pursue this profession- If she is still interested at the Jounior -high level have the school counselors recomend culinary programs in your area- But untill she is older just encourage her the best you can- You could possibly write to Rachel Ray or Matha Stwert and ask what they suggest-