Teen Tidbits, Day 2: How Agency in Cooking Teaches Teens to Make Smart Choices

In this Teen Tidbit, I dive into why agency is such a powerful (and often overlooked) developmental need for teenagers. Agency is really the combination of having choices and having the skills to act on those choices, which together give teens real options in life. 

I’ve intentionally woven this into the Teens Cook Real Food course, sometimes in ways that feel a little chaotic, like cooking multiple versions of the same recipe at once to show how flexible cooking really is. 

Even when it feels messy or overwhelming at first, teens are more than capable of cutting through the chaos, following a recipe, and making something delicious. 

More importantly, all those options feed what they crave developmentally: independence and ownership. My encouragement is to look for ways at home to give your teens more agency by pairing choices with real skills, because that combination is what helps them grow into confident, capable adults.

Get in on the free parenting series on parenting teens here: https://raisinghealthyfamilies.com/teenvids

Check out the Teens Cook Real Food eCourse here!

Resources We Mention for Teen Agency

• Teens Cook Real Food course
• Free 3-part video series on parenting teens intentionally
• Teen Tidbit 1 on ownership
• What’s it like to be diagnosed with a food allergy as a kid?
• Subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any episodes this week! Apple, Spotify, other options

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

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