Cooking with your kids takes a lot of patience but is an extremely rewarding project. Both boys and girls enjoy spending time in the kitchen with their parents and if you take your time and do a little preparation ahead of time, it can be enjoyable for both parent and child alike. Before you get started there are a few things to keep in mind.

• Be familiar with the recipe. Although your first few times cooking with your child you should pick extremely simple recipes, like the ones at the end of this article, you should still take the time to read the ingredient list and directions through ahead of time so that you are familiar with what needs to be done.

• Have a safe work area. What works for you will not necessarily work for your child. Most children will not be able to work easily at counter height. If you have a sturdy stool for your child to stand on, that will work well. If not you may want to move the entire production to the kitchen table so that your child will not be trying to work above his or head.

• Check your ingredient list. Before you even mention to your child that you will be cooking together, make sure that you have all the ingredient necessary. Nothing is more discouraging to a child than be all geared up to do something fun and then hearing, "Sorry, it isn’t going to happen." Alleviate this concern by checking ahead of time.

• Premeasure everything. If you have an older child (older elementary age) you may want to skip this step as the measuring of ingredient is one of the more educational aspects to cooking. For younger kids, prepare just like they do on the cooking shows. Pre measure all your ingredients and line them up in the order they will be used. Some things, like eggs, will need to be out in bowls, but for your dry ingredients you can save cleanup time by putting each ingredient on a separate paper plate.

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