I started cooking with my oldest grandson when he was about 16 months old. He wanted to help cook, so I took the knobs off the stove, gave him a wooden spoon and a pan of potato peelings and he was happy for an hour! Since then, and six more grandchildren, we have made all kinds of things, whether it is funnel cakes, bagels, crackers, bread, candy, pretzels and just the everyday cookies. When I visit the ones that don't live locally, they each pick a day and a recipe that they want to make with Grandma! We have a lot of fun in the kitchen. Several years ago, I made each one of them a scrapbook recipe book, that included family recipes, their history, and pictures of the person handing them down, or pictures of the grandchild and myself making the recipe. My favorite is the cake my then four year old and two year old grandsons made to send to their daddy in Iraq for his birthday! We still laugh about the oldest one wanting to break the egg and somehow it ended up on his nose! lol The oldest grandson is now 14, and the youngest 18 months. What memories we have. If you have not tried cooking with the younger ones in your life, give it a try, you won't regret it. There are more positives than negatives!

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