Ugh, "sliced cookie" play set

[Soliloquy]

I just happened to come across this "sliced cookie" play set from Melissa and Doug:

Maybe I'm a snob (or maybe it's because my mother is a teacher), but I just don't think this is the optimal way for a kid to learn about baking. Ideally it should be from actually helping to bake, with real ingredients that have to be measured, poured, and mixed! Second best way would be playing with bowls, whisks, toy mixers, etc. Maybe an Easy Bake Oven. But this, I think, would be teaching kids that sliced cookies from a tube is the cultural norm, when I don't think that's something to aspire to. (And they taste terrible, in my opinion.)

 

[Babble64]

I agree! For me the best part about baking with kids is the scooping, measuring, stirring, etc. I've had many kids help at once and when you have several different ingredients to get dumped into the bowl everyone gets to help....and it teaches them about sharing as well as baking. It gives you time to chat, too, about what you're doing or just anything at all. I DO use store bought things occasionally, but sliced cookies aren't one of them. (I have a couple of cake recipes that start with a boxed cake that gets additional ingredients.) I have been making homemade, from scratch cookies & cakes since I started baking as a kid, and I see no reason to change that. They're fun to make, they taste better and you can often adjust ingredients to your own liking. I'll admit there's a level of pride involved, also.

That said, if a parent isn't going to bake from scratch with a child, and this is the only way they intend to spend time with them in the kitchen....it's better than nothing. Not all of us were wired to be cooks/bakers. I rather take my ability for granted but sometimes people look at me like I'm magic. LOL

 

[Brandon Marshall]

This is sad. I'm trying to start a new family and I really wish that there were more products involved with "actual" cooking rather than this. It may be that the most effective way to teach a child to prepare food is to actually just do it and not depend on cheap products. Even easy-bake isn't a justified way to teach a child how to bake.

 

[brittany]

This is exactly why people aren't self sufficient in cooking or baking anymore because everything has been made so easy for us. I was lucky, I grew up in the south with a grandma, and my granny who taught me a lot. I'm still learning from my grandma. I always call her when I have a problem with something I've made from scratch. I don't think this teaches kids at all but that stuff is going to keep coming along.

 

[NThomas]

Yes, you are so right. this is a cute play set, but there is no way a child will learn a thing about baking with this toy. A kid would be better off playing with an adult using that silce and bake cookie dough you can buy from the super markert.You could add some premade colored frosting and real sprinkles. This way things would be simple and easy and the child could still have a finished product to eat and share.

 

[mommykerrie]

Play food can be fun; depends on the kid. As the homeschooling mama of 5, though, I am a snob right there with you and love teaching my kids to bake and having them help. That's how they learn!

 

[Josie]

I would totally buy this and throw out the tin lol. I agree. The way many bake these days, I wouldn't call baking. Many recipes, i wouldn't call recipes. I AM a snob that way lol. I would have loved to play with that as a child, but I had been baking since before I could remember, so I would already know that the package was how "the others" bake lol. I had the easy bake and anything else baking related too. If a child isn't a baker yet, yes, this probably isn't the best way to get them started on thinking about food and how it's made. It's marketing at it's finest lol.. get them while they're young.

 

[OhioTom76]

That is hilarious. Though now that I think about it, I could have sworn we had some plastic "tv dinner" toys too when I was growing up in the 70's/80's. I think it was part of some plastic kitchen set we had at our house. I learned how to cook a lot too from my mom and grandmother when growing up (I was gardening and canning vegetables with them when I was like 6 or 7). However, she would still sometimes use the tubed cookies too on occasion, when she was in a hurry and had a craving for them. I could kind of go both ways on this, baking cookies from a tube could be a first step to them baking stuff from scratch - in other words get them exited about watching the cookies bake first, then show them how to make a dough from raw ingredients.

 

[ACSAPA]

I think it's a cute playset and it's kind of funny and quirky that it has slice & bake dough. I'm not really a snob about baking because there are people who can't bake who start multimillion dollar companies, create life changing inventions or run countries.

Not every kid aspires to bake from scratch. My daughter is not into baking, but she's brilliant in other ways. I don't look down on people for not baking from scratch. Not everyone has the time or cares about it.

 

[True2marie]

This play set is a sign of the times.

When I saw the advent of frozen cookie dough that was also pre-cut into squares, I knew that baking was a dying art.

To me, if you purchase frozen cookie dough already cut into squares, you might as well go the bakery and pick up a dozen cookies.

 

[ACSAPA]

I think that some little girls would rather become doctors or policewomen than grow up to be domestic. Some women work 60 hours a week and slice & bake cookies are all they have time to make. I don't think slice & bake cookies are a sign of laziness. I think they're a sign of more women working and having less time to whip up cookies by hand.
I don't judge the slice and bake cookie playset negatively because maybe that same little girl is getting Doctor Barbie or the Phoenix Wright lawyer video game.
Maybe the kid this playset is targeted at would rather be a neurosurgeon than be Martha Stewart.

 

[JessiFox]

I don't know- I see where you're coming from, but I think it's taking it a bit far in relation to a play set. I think it's a cute set...it's little different than a lot of the 'food sets' out there. Who's to say that the same little child who wanted that set isn't also in with their parents baking and measuring and learning first hand? My son loves being in the kitchen and definitely gets the chance to do so first hand, but he also very specifically wanted a play kitchen and play food sets...it's part of imaginative play that they can direct.

& I agree with ACSAPA...if we are going to get a little deeper on the thought than just playing, maybe the child has other interests that dwarf cooking from scratch. Maybe they can't be bothered to spend much time in the kitchen but their parents wanted to even out the doctor themed/art themed/science themed/______ insert obsession here themed toys and activities to balance it out a bit?

 

[Lacey]

Toys today lack a lot of imagination. I would rather go to a thrift shop and buy some bowls and measuring cups and let my daughter use her imagination to cook rather than the plastic cookie slices.

 

[Josie]

My problem isn't the time spent on it or the lack of interest in being domestic. It's not even close to how I saw myself ending up when I was little. My problem is the message it sends about food. Whipping up a batch of chemicals or a batch of premade, processed foods, is not baking.. it's heating. It's not even food really (and that is someone's choice.. I'm just saying. It's not like anyone has to see it that way in order to join the baking club lol). My problem, that isn't otherwise a blip on my radar, is this set is marketing non foods and in a world where everyone is yattering on and on about Barbie.. you'd think they'd have a problem with selling kids play sets that glorify unhealthy eating habits and brand idols. I wasn't in any way insinuating that all girls need to respect baking and being a perfect little house wife. I was insinuating that people are unhealthy and it's pushed on our kids very young. Look at that picture.. they took a commercial and made it a fun and physical thing for impressionable minds. It's not the parent buying it or the child loving it that I have issue with, it's the flippin' greedy businesses behind it that thrive on us slowly killing ourselves.

And that's my 'looking far too deeply into it' two cents for the day