Learning How To Cook As A Person With Cerebral Palsy
As people, we learn many different life skills every day. Some are easy to master, and some are hard. We don’t have to go at the pace other people do with each one, we can go at the pace we want to.
There are so many different life skills we learn throughout life. Just to name a few: cooking, cleaning, learning how to do laundry, and budgeting. There’s many more, those listed here are just a few.
I never really wanted to learn how to cook. I usually would let my dad do it all as he was the chef in the house. When I would ask to help, he would be stubborn and say, “No, you just sit, I’ll do it.” So, that’s what I did the last three years of him being here — just sat back and let him do everything, like he ordered me to.
But, he died on January 1st of this year. So, that meant having to step up and help my mom around the house. One of the biggest things I’ve been helping her with is cooking. Another reason I was always afraid to cook was the possibility of cutting one of my fingers with a sharp knife.
I’ve learned a lot while being taught how to cook, like how to prepare, cut, and clean vegetables, as well as how to use a can opener. I still have many more skills to learn, but I’m getting there. And, the good news: I’ve only managed to get one small cut on my thumb.
The downfall of cooking for me is that it can be hard to do certain tasks with cooking due to having Cerebral Palsy and problems with my hands. For example, today I struggled trying to use the can opener to open a can of tomatoes and mushrooms. I got really frustrated and discouraged — my hands were not cooperating as I tried twisting the can opener handle.
After I got the cut on my thumb, my mom looked for a rocket knife online to try and make cutting a little less stressful and easier. A rocket knife kind of looks like a sea saw. You just put it on the ingredient your trying to cut and just rock it like a rocking chair. This knife is supposed to be great for people with disabilities who have dexterity problems. It will also put a lot less strain and work on your arms.
Despite the cut on my thumb and struggling with the can opener, I find cooking a lot of fun. It’s very good if you don’t want to lift weights to workout your arms. It’s a great source of arm strength, too!
What’s your favorite tool to cook with? I’m so curious to know!
Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash
