What bothers me is how much the kids are prompted by their parents. There's a difference between a kid becoming popular from documenting their own food forays and being guided by mom and dad.

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I couldn't agree more. The only things kids should be doing in the kitchen is the dishes.

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I am a primary school teacher and I couldn't disagree with you all more. Children should be encouraged to help in the kitchen- learning to prepare food, mixing, stirring, and yes, even cutting is great for children's small and gross motor skills. As long as they are supervised, children as young as three can help in the kitchen. It also boosts their confidence and makes them feel proud of what they have done. The earlier you teach children to cook and eat healthy foods, the better the chance they will become healthy adults. As for the TV chefs: I could care less.

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I think it's a misconception that kids don't yet have mature taste buds; I'm pretty sure it's exactly the opposite. As kids we have a more complete sense of taste than we do as adults because taste buds die off as we age. In other words, they can taste things that we can't just like they can hear things that we can't.
What seems to happen is that kids appear to have less sophisticated palates because they find objectionable tastes in foods that adults actually miss. But I could be wrong.
Regardless, I'm still never going to have any interest in kid chefs. They still have completely different tastes. I've never liked kid prodigies being marketed to adults in any area, but I've just assumed that's because I don't have kids myself.

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My son's job in my business is to be a taste tester/garbage disposal.

Works well. The boy loves to eat and will try anything once.

If he won't touch the food, I know the idea/concept/recipe was a stinker. I use him to try out commercial made "hiker" food as well (most of it makes me want to run away). Whenever he says "NOOOO!" I then flunk the item. If he won't eat, I know it is nasty.

But do I trust him to cut food with knives? No way. He is an 11 year old boy who so would cut himself! I especially don't trust him with the stove. What boy doesn't love fire? ;-)

There is something pretty pretentious about kids who act like little adults. Let your kids be kids and have fun making messes. Don't try to make a living off them....it is about as awful as parents grooming a kid for movies! It is almost always in this type of situation where the adult sees potential and markets the kid - where it is the parent who has the actual talent but is not marketable.

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I would encourage children and teens to HELP their parents in the kitchen so they'll feel like helpful members of the family and learn to eat something other than packaged snacks. They even have special culinary schools for kids and teens (Young Chefs'Academy, Batter Up!) so little Brenna or Bowen can develop a flair for food.
So, yes, I think youngsters should HELP the grownups in the kitchen. I said HELP -- tear salad greens, break eggs, stir mixtures, taste mixtures. Anything with heat, fire, or knives is the adult's department. End of it.

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