With your mind set on activities to help your kid get the best mental well-being, you may entertain more emotional-based interactions than physical ones.

However, physical interactions like baking can help your child attain great mental well-being.

Therefore, you should try to bake with your child.

When you bake with them, you should give them tasks to complete, such as measuring some ingredients, pouring them, and storing the remaining.

Your trust in them for these tasks will give them the self-confidence to handle every real-life task they encounter.

Similarly, baking sessions involve you talking to them, laughing, and showing them how to do things.

It will result in a stronger bond between you, helping them benefit from the positive effects of having loving parents.

They will also learn better food habits from the baking session since you will explain the importance and effects of every ingredient they use.

You will teach them how to use the ingredients in moderation and the best combination of items to use for making particular meals.

Here are five reasons you should bake with your child:

It Will Make Them Self-Confident 

When you bake with your child and entrust them with important tasks requiring competence, you will help them build their self-confidence.

Such confidence will translate into less anxiety and fear in other situations since they already have experience completing essential tasks.

In the face of obstacles, their acquired self-confidence will also give them the necessary motivation to overcome and achieve the mission.

They will reflect on the baking sessions and remember how they maneuvered through the tasks.

Even when they fail, their self-confidence will push them to retry until the goal is achieved.

Although they may not use the same method, they will keep trying until they reach their prescribed goal because they know they have failed and succeeded in the past.

They will also have more meaningful and stable relationships since they are confident in their ability to relate with people.

Also, they won't chase people to befriend them, allowing them to escape the reality of having reluctant friends.

They Will Bond With You 

Bonding is a gracious gift to give your child as they don't care about money or other material things.

Children generally care about time spent with you and will love every moment.

When you bake with your child, you can bond with them, helping them develop their mental well-being.

Through the tight bond, your kid will feel a sense of connection with the family, letting them know they are wanted by people that love them.

They will also develop a sense of self and a positive identity from piggybacking on your positive behavior during the baking session.

By maintaining a strong bond, your child will realize how important solid relationships are in life.

This will encourage them to constantly pursue only solid and stable relationships to avoid unintended consequences from flimsy connections.

In their pursuit, they will help and respect people because your bonding has taught them to do that.

The bond will also ensure they feel safe and secure with you.

Parents are the children's protectors, but this title can only be kept with regular protection displays.

If you have bonded with your child, they will know that you genuinely care about them and will seek your help when they need you.

They Will Learn Better Food Habits 

As a concerned parent, when you bake with your child, it's understandable that you will teach them about baking, food, and nutrition in general.

Instructing them on how to eat and what to eat can help them pick healthy foods that will contribute positively to their physical and mental well-being.

If you teach your kid about good eating habits, they will know the best meals to eat to get sufficient energy throughout the day.

Similarly, they will know the necessary nutrients to consume to repair their muscles and other body constituents.

Maintaining healthy eating habits can also protect them from heart disease that accompanies unhealthy foods.

Your child will understand that diets rich in fruits, whole grains, and vegetables can help them reduce cholesterol and blood sugar.

Furthermore, healthy eating habits can give your child stronger teeth and bones.

Calcium and Vitamin D are nutrients involved in getting stronger bones.

With your child's knowledge of good eating habits, they will know great sources for these nutrients.

They Will Learn Some Life Skills From Baking 

All necessary skills for kids can't be learned in school

Many skills can be learned in activities such as baking.

When you bake with your child, they can learn valuable skills that will help them develop robust mental well-being.

One crucial skill they'll learn is reading instructions accurately and executing them to the appropriate requirements.

This skill will be important throughout their school years because of their exams.

It will also be important in other years of their life because of the precision needed to traverse life.

They will also develop fine-tuned decision-making skills.

Since baking involves different procedures that may require selecting an option to get a particular taste, it will involve a lot of decision-making.

Furthermore, they will improve the mastery of their sensory skills.

Baking involves tasting the cake to verify the flavor, touching it to feel the texture, listening to the oven chimes, and smelling the cake.

Constantly keeping track of these will sharpen their senses.

It Promotes Social Interaction 

Social interaction is an essential tool to survive in the real world because no one is an island and everyone needs each other to do many things.

Harnessing this tool from a young age can help with the easy implementation of the tool in the future.

When you bake with your child, you will be helping them develop their social skills because of the communication involved in the baking session.

By learning to communicate with you, they will sharpen their skill and quickly become effective communicators in school and among their peers.

Their improved social skills will also help them make friends with other children and maintain the stability of their friendships.

They can communicate what they expect of their friends and satisfy them with adequate words.

Moreover, the improved social skills will make it easy for them to work with other people due to the experience of cooperation with you.

This will translate into an enhanced ability to collaborate in teams as an adult.

Conclusion

To bolster your kid's mental well-being, you can engage in various home-based activities with them, such as baking, cooking, and playing games.

When you bake with your child, you will boost their mental well-being because you will build their self-confidence, bond with them, teach them healthy eating habits and some life skills, and improve their social skills.

Resources 

https://pamelabarnum.com/five-benefits-of-self-confidence/

https://www.betterrelationships.org.au/family-parenting/how-to-have-a-healthy-family/bond-with-your-child/

https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition/eating-well/health-benefits-of-eating-well

https://anybodycanbake.com/benefits-of-baking/

https://www.teawithmum.com/top-tips-for-baking-with-kids/

https://www.cadence-education.com/blog/parents-corner/skills-for-kids/amp/