Children today are missing out on the importance of knowing how to plan and prepare meals. Basic cooking, baking and food preparation are necessities for being self sufficient. Involve your family in menu planning, grocery shopping and food preparation. Preschoolers can tear lettuce, cut bananas and set the table. Older children can pour milk, peel vegetables and mix batter. Teenagers can dice chop, bake and grill. Working as a team puts the meal on the table faster, as well as makes everyone more responsible and accepting of the outcome. Improved eating habits come with ownership of a meal. Research shows that frequent family dinners (five or more a week) are associated with lower rates of smoking, drinking and illegal drug use in pre-teens and teenagers when compared to families that eat together two or fewer times per week. Even as older childrens schedules get more complicated, it is important to make an effort to eat meals together. Children do better in school when they eat more meals with their parents and family. Teenagers who eat dinner four or more times per week with their families have higher academic performance compared with teenagers who eat with their families two or fewer times per week.