"Can I help you make it?"

I remember when my little girl was about 2 1/2 and she started to ask if she could help me make things. I always thought it was so fun. She would just stand there patiently waiting I'd hand her something to pour in and it would be such a fun experience. She was so excited whenever she helped me. Then my little boy started asking. He did pretty good but I had to ask him about 40 times not to touch whatever it was he was touching. Now they're 5 and 3 and they both want to help. Everytime they ask I think it will be so fun and then we start. They are both touching everything and asking when they can pour in their thing. No matter how many times I say "slow like a turtle" they dump it in as fast as they can it spills etc. Now both of mine are also allergic to eggs and milk. So they shouldn't be eating it in the first place (I'm not up for awards so I think we're good) but I figure a couple won't hurt. But I won't let them eat the batter once the raw eggs are in there. Don't know if it makes a difference but I kinda think it's gross so I just say no. Then when all the ingredients are in they want to stir it. Stirring brings the mess to a whole new level. If they don't stir it so fast it goes over the side they stir it and flip it up. Now when we're done cooking it looks a little bit like we had an earthquake. But after the mess is cleaned up and we're packing them up to pass out to whoever it is it's all worth it. It was worth the mess when my 3 year old loaded up her stroller to pass out her valentine's cupcakes to the neighborhood. When all 3 of us took baby Colin and passed out Christmas cookies to all our friends. We even met some nice neighbors just because Finley wanted to pass them some cupcakes. So even though I get stressed at the sound of "can I help you make it" and get anxiety during the process it's like everything else. Worth it in the end. Now off to clean up the mess and get a new pair of socks.