Involving children in the family cooking process is a great way to show them how to cook and to give them specific jobs in the house.  Here are a few ways to get your kids involved.

1. Menu planning - When you sit down to plan the family menus, have your children help you.  Little children can look at the pictures in cookbooks and point to things they'd like to eat.  Older children can read through the recipes and select items that would be easy to make and healthy.

2. Shopping - Take children to the store with you.  Give them specific items that they need to find from your grocery list (while still keeping an eye on them for safety).  Give them one or two items at a time, and then add to the list when they return with these items.

3. Cooking! Let your children share in the cooking process.  Kids love to be little chefs.  Buy them aprons and give them easy tasks that they can accomplish as you cook.  They can be the ones who pour liquids, who crack eggs, who stir the bowl and the like.  Involve them now so that they will know how to cook and will become more involved later in life.

It's always helpful to get kids involved in the house in any way that you can.  Cooking is an easy way to involve them and to teach them something at the same time.  Consider these ideas - you'll be pleasantly surprised how much they enjoy joining in!