We Made Cooking ‘Fun’ By Making a YouTube Video with our Son

Because parenting a teenager during a pandemic has its own set of challenges.

Back when this whole mess started in March, I remember looking at Pat with a sense of panic - OMG he's not going back to school? Wait, til the FALL? Who said that? When are they announcing that?? WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DOOOOOOOO??!!

Our son goes to a technology-focused middle school and, to state the obvious, his radio-DJ parents weren't exactly geniuses in the math/science fields. At first we were terrified that we would have to literally homeschool him during this time. Luckily, he's 13 and has been able to complete the work on his own.

Then we thought, "What else could we do with him during this time that would be a good life experience?" One of his teachers suggested that we do some domestic lessons - cleaning, cooking, finances, etc.

We'd already gotten him a Greenlight card in February - it's a debit card that we control with his allowance from our bank account.

That's been working great, but it's time to try something new - cooking. After all, we've got nothing but time.

He fought us on the cooking tooth-and-nail and, as two exhausted parents working from home, we caved and let it go. Just last week, though, he said, "I want to learn how to make a frozen pizza from beginning to end...and I want to do a YouTube video of it."

We jumped at the chance. We have our own channel and so does he (which we monitor), and we decided that he could post this on his channel.

It worked like a charm. He was enthusiastic, excited, and even edited it himself. So, if you're struggling with your teen during the stay-at-home order, maybe making a video will tempt them a bit?