"Dave Bazell" wrote in message
...
I have two teenage boys, twins actually, age 14. Over the summer they have
been responsible for cooking dinner for their siblings one a week (each).
Unfortunately this experience has turned into a "how little can I do"
exercise. I am looking for suggestions about how to get them to be more
involved and responsble for some aspects of family life. In terms of
cooking, I have considered asking them to run the "menu" by me over the
weekend, before they cook. But then it becomes more my responsiblity.

I agree with making criteria for the meals (must include all four food
groups, etc.) and a budget.

I am guessing that you have more than two kids. I would let the other kids
and you vote on how good the meal was, and rewarad the cook accordingly.
Perhaps a highly-rated meal gets special privledges or results in less
chores. Or maybe, when there is a highly-rated meal, the whole family goes
to the movies, miniture golf or something. You can also encourage your
younger kids to help. To me, it seems that there is no reason why this
shouldn't be a family acitvity (certainly eating should be), even if one of
the twins is the head chef and the other kids are the assistant chefs.

You might also encourage them to cooperate, so that one prepares the salad
and vegetables and the other does the rest, and they switch.

Jeff
Thanks for any suggestions.

Dave