Everyone who actually cooks wants free help, they just want to decide what the other person does, and for that person to otherwise stay out of their way.

Someone’s willing to peel / chop for me? Great! They’re willing to get an early start on cleaning so I don’t have lots of dirty dishes, knives, bowls, and pans cluttering things up? Awesome. Sometimes just a clean pair of hands to open a jar while my hands are goopy is amazing. I’ll even accept someone giving a quick stir to something on the stove so it doesn’t burn if I’m busy with something else.

But, for it to work, they have to know what they’re doing. They have to know what not to do. They can’t get in my way, they can’t take over something I’m doing, or offer unsolicited suggestions. And, if they take over something I was doing / would have done, they have to do a good job of it.

I work well with my sister. If she’s cooking, I’ll ask if she needs help, and only do the things that she wants help with, staying out of her way otherwise. But, I hate when my mom is around because she’ll do things like snack on the ingredients I’m using, or, even worse, add her own ingredients to something I’m making.