During my stay with my two granddaughters I had fun in the kitchen with the eldest, Isabel, who is aged 4.

My joy cannot be measured as we cooked together. It was a combination of her delight at telling me which recipe we were going to use (which was not the one she insisted I write down as we watched a children’s cooking show on DVD… no it was going to be ‘Mummy’s banana cake recipe!’) , her enthusiasm and interest, her focus at cracking the eggs without a single piece of shell going into the mix and the smile she beamed as she got to lick the bowl.

I loved supporting her to weigh and measure the ingredients adding more information about what the eggs will do to the flour, why we put in the vanilla essence, why we grease the cake tin. There is a saying that goes, ‘if you want to teach a man to build a boat first you have to teach him to love to sail’.  We had a lot of fun in the kitchen (even if she hadn’t quite the same enthusiasm for washing all the bowls!) and the cake tasted delicious!