Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

My foster granddaughter had a plan yesterday and I went along with it:  to make cupcakes.  We walked to the store and bought ingredients, as she had downloaded the recipes already.  Then she began and she wanted to do it all herself.  We got to the raspberry filling and she didn't like the taste.  I stayed out of it as she added sugar and declared she hated the taste of the cornstarch.  Then she rushed the icing, putting all the ingredients in at once, when the whipping cream was supposed to come later,  and it looked like a lumpy mess and she wanted to throw it out and start over.  I reassured her it was fixable, and part of the problem was she only added half the powdered sugar.  I explained that cooking was chemistry and messing around with the proportions would be a disaster.  She reluctantly added more sugar.  Still dissatisfied she wanted to start over and I vetoed that, saying it was too much a waste of food.  Eventually the icing looked good and we didn't even have to add more whipping cream.  When we took the cupcakes out of the oven, one batch was burned on the bottom, but I wouldn't let her throw them out.  I showed her how to cut off the bottoms with a bread knife.  She threw a few cupcakes away while I wasn't looking, but I ignored it.  Eventually, she filled them, iced them and decorated them and placed them in a plastic container to take home.

Next time I'm tackling cleanup while she's around.  She conveniently ignored that mess.  But this time my patience encouraged hers, and my not wanting to waste food stopped her from throwing a lot of stuff into the sink.  I kept my voice for encouraging logical consequences.  I refused to go get another cake mix, so she had to "fix" the burnt cupcakes, and I salvaged some of the filling and froze two containers of icing.  I hope she registered my determination not to waste food.  She needs to learn to take her time and be careful, but she watches shows that make cooking look quick and easy, with no mistakes.  She needs to slow down.  Whether she will or not is to be seen.