Patience is needed to bring out the flavours. Same with teaching children martial arts.
Put some love into it
Just like kids, food can somehow tell when you are agro. If a person does not enjoy cooking, they will rush everything just to get through it, which brings us to……
Be patient
You can’t rush frying the onions and garlic, or fail to let the dish simmer properly on the stove. Just like children, the more you try to push them the more they will resist. You need to coax out their “flavours” and bring out their best.
Be in the moment
You have to enjoy the process and not be anywhere else. Engage fully and with all senses. I cook on weekends as it is fun and relaxing and yes, very Zen. A bonus: plenty of delicious, healthy, and cheap leftovers for the week.
Focus on strong basics
Like how to chop onions properly, make a sauce, or boil rice without it getting gluggy. The basics are doubly important for kids since they are generally unable to grasp very complex moves. Stances and footwork are key. Besides, the basics work best in a self defence situation. The complex moves, just like advanced cooking techniques, will be easier to grasp once the basics are mastered.
Constantly re-invent and refine your teaching or children will get bored
In cooking, this experimentation and going outside your comfort zone is how you get better and expand your repertoire of dishes. Be bold!
Learn to cook with your heart and teach martial arts the same way and the children will be drawn to you like a bear to honey.
Passion for learning as well as teaching is what you get from feedback. You cook, people taste, and let you know good or bad you teach and see the results and learn how to improve and yes step out of your comfort zone every day life is an experiment and we get better with each experience along the way.
Thanks for the comment Emily. Yes, the feedback loop is such important part of teaching and cooking, that’s why watching videos is not a complete way of learning. As long as the people tasting are being honest, and not trying to avoid hurting our feelings it works, LOL.