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For many parents, "kids in the kitchen" conjures up images of children wielding sharp knives and a sticky mess from floor to ceiling, but it doesn't have to be that way. Putting your kids to prepare kids cooking recipes and helping with family meals can be safe, clean, and fun for everyone.

In addition to being fun, when children are helping you with kids cooking recipes, your kitchen is also one of the most valuable classrooms in your house from the moment your baby can sit up.

Colors shapes and numbers are all there waiting to challenge your child each step of the way. Babies will pass up their fancy toys every time for a chance to match up pots and lids or stack plastic containers. Toddlers love to "sort" silverware and fold napkins into triangles.

Experts say that if families would gather around the dinner table more often, the benefits to children such as improved academic performance and higher self-esteem would abound.

Sharing family meals also offers nutrition benefits. Parents serve as role models, letting their children observe them enjoying a variety of healthful foods and kids cooking recipes.

Research shows that children are more open to tasting new foods when they help prepare their kids cooking recipes.

Even an occasional family meal can be successful. Make a commitment to sit down at the table family-style at least two to three times a week.

There are Kitchen Tools For Kids that you can have in your kitchen:

Pizza wheel: great for chopping ham, cutting up fruit, slicing peppers (skin side down so the blade doesn't slip), cutting sandwiches in half

Styrofoam trays (from vegetables): use as a disposable cutting tray under the pizza wheel. The texture of the tray keeps the blade of the wheel from slipping around, the edges of the tray contain the mess

Egg slicer: slicing eggs, bananas, kiwi, strawberries, and chunks of cooked vegetables

Brushes: brushing marinades on pork chops and kabobs, brushing oil on meats before sauting

Apple slicer: cutting apples, pears, or melon wedges for lunch boxes

Blunt scissors: cutting ham, cutting raw (or cooked) bacon into bits, snipping green onions and lettuce, (plastic scissors work well since they can be washed in the dishwasher)

Rolling pin: available in many grocery stores, use to make cracker or cookie crumbs in a plastic bag, and roll out dough

Ice cream scoop: for portioning cookie dough or scooping mashed potatoes

Plastic scrub pads: scraping the skins from carrots

Hand held grater (available in plastic): use for grating cheese, cracker or cookie crumbs or strawberry or kiwi "sauce".

Butter pat slicer: for butter, bananas, cooked fruit and vegetables

Bouncy whisk great for mixing marinades, beating eggs, combining liquid ingredients for recipes.

A little bit one of good will and love by our children will be enough when preparing tasteful kids cooking recipes.