Let's close out this week's contributions to our series on teaching children important life skills by taking a closer look at one of the chores we discussed earlier this week: cooking.

Now, I'm not going to suggest that you let your 8 year-old make Thanksgiving dinner on his own. However, kids can start learning some basic cooking at a very young age. And surprisingly, that doesn't assume they will use the microwave for everything.

Let's look at some of the cooking tasks accessible to various age groups:

Primary grades: Young children can learn to pour cereal into bowls, to make toast, to tear lettuce for salads, to tip green beans, shell peas, husk corn, pull the leaves off herbs, roll meatballs, mix dough by hand, or add toppings to pizza.

Middle grades: By the middle grades, tasks involving the stove, oven, and sharp things become more possible. So, a child might learn to peel potatoes and carrots, hull strawberries, use the hand mixer to make cookie dough, mash potatoes, stir a sauce on the stove, heat soup, and make scrambled eggs.

Junior high: By junior high, a child can learn to make simple dishes that involve chopping and actively monitoring cooking in the oven or on the stove top. Here, the focus needs to be on basic skills, like chopping, mincing, slicing. boiling, sauteing, baking, etc. Practicing the skills will carry over to everything they try to cook. Also at this age, a child can become proficient in reading and following a recipe. (My Elf Hints are helpful here.)

Senior high: By this point, a young person should be able to cook a basic family dinner pretty much on his or her own, from selecting the menu through to putting the food on the table. It's not unhelpful to let young people be in charge of family dinner (or a weekend breakfast) at least once a week — though parents should retain menu approval. Now, this does run the risk of the occasional overcooked meal or the meatloaf not quite done in the center that needs to be nuked before eating. Your food won't always be perfect, but we have to learn sometime! Start by supervising the preparations, but don't interfere unless necessary. In time, your oversight will become redundant. You'll have raised a competent cook!