The hub of most family activity is often in or around the kitchen. Get your kids involved early on! Create loving memories while you teach them to respect, maintain and love the role of the family kitchen.

• Have a blackboard for kids to write the menu on.

• Let kids choose weekend menus and weekday veggies and desserts

• Let them sprinkle, pound, knead, stir and drizzle ingredients

• Proud Presentation: (for kids 12 and under) Take Polaroids: 1. Ingredients all set out  2. The prepared dish before cooking  3. The finished cooked dish. 4. A shot of the little one hard at work for bragging rights!  Tape the pics to a piece of cardboard and let the little host/hostess hog the limelight, explain the process with the family gathered around the table.

• Have a low counter or table for them to work with their own "little people" sized utensils, spoon rest, dishcloth and small, lined trash can for messes.

• If you don't have an apron - make a hand towel "apron" by folding a  dish towel over a ribbon tied around the child's waist (for wiping little messy hands). Teach the importance of cleaning as you go.

• Kids love to sort! Let kids sort your plastic ware containers and match them up with the right lids.

• Let them help plant and tend a kitchen herb garden; have a list of favorite recipes to choose from that use each different herb in kitchen. Show them that food doesn't grow in stores.

• Washings dishes: Fill a sink with soapy warm water, express how you just can't seem to get the gunk off those baked-on dishes and you really need your kids' help. Watch the combination of 20 minutes of exuberant play mixed with scrubbing determination make your job mush easier. Little kids really want to please and impress their parents in this fun way to boost self esteem. (Place a towel on the floor and be prepared to wipe the soapy water below the sink so no one slips)

Encourage creativity and exploration in a controlled kid's kitchen environment and the lessons of cleaning as you go and safety will add to the respect and love of the kitchen, not steer them away from it!