Even if you didn’t grow up cooking, giving your child cooking skills is easier than you might think.

The Journal of Nutrition Education reports that three-year-olds who were more involved in cooking also knew more about nutrition. And that’s straight from their Moms.

Of course, you eat what you know.

Kids who help to choose or cook a food are much more likely to eat it…and pushing the button on a microwave counts as cooking. In fact, the kitchen is one big show-, do-and-tell

If your kid is about 3 to 5 years old, he/she can do these things in the kitchen:

* Tear leafy lettuce into a salad bowl (it is easier to slice romaine lettuce).
* Pour ingredients into a bowl and help mix, with a large spoon.
* Choose foods from the refrigerator for the menu (use clear plastic containers so they can see what they are choosing).
* Toss whole grain, lettuce or vegetables for a salad.
* Spread peanut or almond butter with a plastic knife–buy peanut butter organic, because the conventional ones are sprayed with a fungicide before being crunched, and many peanut butters, including Skippy, still have trans fats in them.
* Choose which box of cereal to eat, or even some of each.
* Decide how much water to add to fruit juice, to dilute the sugar in it, or how many ice cubes.
* Rinse veggies and fruit, such as carrots, celery, peppers, grapes and apples.
(both conventional grapes and apples should be rinsed, because they they are commonly grown with synthetic chemical pesticides: buy them organic if you can.)
* Slice bananas, cheese sticks, and hard-boiled eggs: use a plastic knife, be sure the eggs are cool, and to make it easy, slice eggs in half first so the flat portion is on the cutting board and they do not roll.
* Squeeze a lime, orange or lemon into a fruit salad.
* Peel a hard-boiled egg, after it has cooled.
* Mix muffin and bread dough in a bowl
* Stir pancake batter, or pop in the raisins or berries as you stir.
* Stir together egg salad in a bowl
* Make pizza by scattering shredded cheese, pressing vegetables into the dough, sprinkling with green herbs like parsley after it comes out of the oven.

Older kids can do more, and actually begin to cook once they hit age 8; between 5 and 8, try

* Mash sweet potatoes and potatoes you’ve roasted or steamed
* Use unbreakable measuring cups and spoons
* Follow simple recipe directions
* Use a can opener, with supervision
* Pour marinade over chicken or fish

Good starter cookbooks for both Mom and kids are Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen of The Moosewood Cookbook and Mom and Me by Annabel Karmel.