When I was growing up, I remember my mother regularly asking us to leave the kitchen and be out of her way. Not that she’s a mean mom, in fact the opposite, she wanted to ‘be there’ for us so much that she ended up serving us. While there’s nothing wrong with serving, but I think it done in excess, it could lead to kids who grow up thinking food will always cook itself and be on the table whenever they are hungry. Thankfully, she did teach me to cook and allowed me to help toward my tween and teen years.

I like to start things earlier. The two elder girls are 8 and going on 7 so they are more than capable of cooking. I want them to be able to not only cook full meals for the family, but cook snacks and quick meals for one so they can be independent when they get home from school (and I’m still working at my desk), and also because they will spend many years by themselves real soon. After thinking about it, I believe these 4 kitchen appliances would be a great way for them to cook hot meals with minimal supervision.

George Foreman Grill – My brother-in-law gave us one a couple of years ago. We love it. I’m thinking this would be a great way to heat/cook chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches, panini’s, even hamburgers. It is healthy and super easy to use.

A sandwich maker – these things go all the way back to when I was a kid. This was one of the few kitchen items my mom would let me use when I was their age. Makes awesome grilled cheese sandwiches that the kids love. I also think they can make pizza sandwiches real easily with these too. Spread a little spaghetti sauce on a slice of bread, add couple slices of pepperoni and some shredded cheese, top with another piece of bread and press in the sandwich maker yum! And because the sandwich maker seals the sides of the sandwiches, the sauce stays in – as long as there’s not too much Oh, you can also get those that make waffles as well.

A GT Express 101 – we had this and I loved it! They now have the newer one – Xpress Redi-Set-Go with many improvements. Omelets were especially easy to make with the original GT Express. The little ones also loved turkey tacos so throwing one in this little cooker will give it a nice crunch and also melt the cheese.

A crock pot – best for getting the little ones to make dinner for the family. Just get them to throw everything in and turn on. How kid friendly is that?