[greedy4chips]

I bet your DD does not put bare hands into the oven to remove anything now...sometimes that is the best teaching method. Luckily she wasn't severely hurt. I would worry about my kids cooking if they were boiling water for anything since there are so many ways to get hurt with it.

With that being said, our 8 year old can make toasted cheese sandwiches and any canned veggies we have (microwaved). Our 6 year old can make microwave popcorn btw (without the plastic). I even let them cut up veggies (under close supervision), by suppertime they are full of veggies! Teach them the proper techniques and watch them closely until they are good at it.

If you don't teach them, they will end up never cooking and eating out all the time.

You could spend 2-3 hrs on Sunday afternoons making meals for your oldest to take out of the freezer to warm up later in the week. This is much cheaper and better for you than frozen meals at the grocery store!

When I was 12 my mom left my dad and there were lots of nights we had to make meals on our own. My dad worked shift work and sometimes would have to work unexpected OT so we were on our own. We survived by making meals we had helped make in the past. We peeled enough potatoes to make any army cook proud! We always had something around that was easy to make like hotdogs, spaghetti, hamburgers, eggs, caserolles, home canned veggies, etc.