Bringing kids into the kitchen to help cook can be wonderful on so many levels. You get to watch your children learn new things and build their confidence. It is also a great way to encourage your children to try new and healthful foods. When children are invested in a process they are more interested in the outcome and in this case the outcome is eating.

Having little helpers doesn’t have to be at suppertime only. Have your child make his or her own school lunch the night before. This is a great ritual to start early as it can make your child less likely to trade his or lunch or throw food away; they are the experts of their own life and know what they like.

Getting kids into the kitchen can be bit of an inconvenience especially on those nights when you’re lucky you got food on the table at all. So use the nights that are a little less hectic to have some fun in the kitchen. You could even have your child perform a kitchen task that has nothing to do with the outcome of the meal, just asking them for their help and respecting the earnestly they put into creating something for themselves can teach them so many things.