Sometimes toddlers can be picky eaters, or they would rather go and play rather than sit down and eat.  Personally, I know it is a trouble I have with my son from time to time.  Instead of having the fights about coming to the table to eat, I have found that having my son help me with the cooking process is both fun, and it gets him more interested in eating the meal that is prepared for him.

Earlier, I walked through the process of how to make eggs with your toddler.  Another breakfast I make with my son is pancakes.  Like eggs, pancakes are great because they are simple to make, and they are hard to screw up.

Now, you can make them from scratch if you would like, and I guarantee that if you know what you are doing, they will come out better that way.  However, the idea is to get your child involved in the process and to move the process along as quickly as possible.  With that in mind, it is a good idea to get everything set up before you bring your toddler into the kitchen.

With everything set up, you don’t have to worry about having your toddler measuring everything out (they can’t), nor do you have to worry about your toddler wanting to do it himself.  Now, one of the reasons why this Aunt Jemima mix is so great is that it is just mix and water.  It doesn’t matter which one your or your child picks first.  Hopefully, to keep the mess at a minimum, your child will select the mix first as my child did:

The next step is to pour the water in and hope it all makes it into the bowl.  As for the bowl, you want a larger bowl than you really need.  Toddlers tend not to pour things in slowly.   Instead, they tend to just dump things in quickly.  You also want the larger bowl because it will allow you to have your toddler mix the batter himself while greatly reducing the chance that there will be a spill:

For this next step, you really need to know your child, and you need to have some training.  Having done this numerous times with my son, I can trust him not to touch the griddle.  Early on, I did not.  I would take his hands and hold them while we put batter on the griddle.  When scooping the batter onto the griddle, I recommend using measuring cups so he has something to scoop and pour.  As I like to make smaller pancakes for him, I typically use a 1/4 cup:

As you can see here, my son is pouring from high up as he does knows not to put his hands anywhere near the hot griddle:

You’re going to be lucky if you get similarly sized pancakes, but that’s not the idea.  The idea is to have them participate in the process.  For those that don’t know better, you want to flip the pancake when it starts bubbling on top and the sides start to brown:

Typically, I like to assemble all the pancakes on a plate to permit my son to pick out which ones he wants.  Again, the idea is to let your child have some control and have some fun in the process so they want to eat:

Like I said, your child will be more interested to eat when they get to pick which pancake(s) they want:

Typically, I like to use frozen fruit to make a homemade syrup.  It’s less sugar, and it is a way to get your child to eat more fruit.  I have found Alton Brown’s blueberry syrup recipe easy to make and versatile.  I have used it with other berries, like strawberry, and peaches as well.  When you don’t have or have the energy for homemade syrup, I prefer the Trader Joe’s Agave Maple Syrup.  Again, it has less sugar.  For what it’s worth, my son prefers having the syrup and the bottle:

The only thing left to do is eat:

Again, once I started making breakfast (and other meals) with my son, I have found getting him to eat has been much easier.  I have also enjoyed not only teaching him how to cook, but also spending time with him while doing it.  I hope you have as much fun as my child and I have.