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We all want our teens to be successful, to be independent, and to expand their creativity and enjoyment of life. If all this can be achieved in a warm, encouraging and practical way, so much the better. Time to introduce your teen t the kitchen, using the holiday season to start a New Year's resolution that will change your family's lifeget everyone cooking!

The kitchen used to be the heart of the home. Now it's the most traveled through room of all, one where we grab a plate f nachos or heat a piece of left-over pizza in the microwave. In a day and age where family time is shrinking, and concerns about teen and childhood obesity are growing, cooking as a family, and encouraging and teaching teens to cook one night each week ca cure a lot of both ills. Sounds good, but it's not for no reason that fast food and convenience food markets have exploded in the last couple of decades. So how do we make it work in a family that has a different schedule every night of the week? How do we pull kids away from their usual evening routine to enter the life of the culinary?

Set the pace.
You, yourself, have to cook. Not microwave dinners or the above mentioned nachos, but real, honest-to-goodness cooking. That might intimidate you if you, like I, have fallen into the rut of casseroles or I'll cook tomorrow'. As schedules became more cramped and time more intense it just got easier. What a cop out! Make the time to prepare a meal plan and shop accordingly. Take the time to cook a good, hearty meal at least three nights per week. Now, I know it's the holiday season, that football season just ended and that schedules are crashing together like drunken reindeer. Scheduling is key though, for both the adult and the teen cook. Don't decide to cook t-bone steaks and scalloped potatoes on soccer night. At our house Wednesday night dinner, crammed between late school activities and church, is a fast-food/left-over night. It has to be that way because of the acknowledged fifteen minutes between walking in and walking out.

Start small.
Once you've decided (and committed) to cooking on at least a part-time basis, gently blend in the teen. Invite them in to help out one night each week, giving them a specific task, the recipe, equipment and lots of praise and encouragement. Discuss options and alternatives in their recipe, such as changing a key ingredient or adding something a little different. As time passes you might find you can slip out during your budding chef's work time, allowing

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