How to Teach Kids to Cook

Beating Cake Batter

Kids love to feel like they're helping out, and teaching them how to cook is a great way to make them feel important while instilling a life skill. According to Doug Hewitt, author of "The Practical Guide to Weekend Parenting," this is also a perfect setting to teach about failure and how to handle it, because there's nothing that deflates an ego quite like a cake that doesn't rise or a scorched omelet. By showing your kids that even mom isn't perfect, you can instill in them the willingness to try new things without fear...continues below

Resource

• The Practical Guide to Weekend Parenting

Warnings

• Always supervise children carefully in the kitchen, especially when working with the stove on.

Keywords

• teach
• kids
• children
• child
• cook
• cooking

Skill

• 3

Tips

• Give each child their own apron and keep it hanging in a handy spot.
• Ask your kids to help write meal menus for the week that include foods they'd like to help prepare.
• A trip to the grocery store or farmers market is a great teaching tool when learning to cook.