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When kids are very young, they often want to emulate what their parents are doing. For example, if Mom and Dad are preparing dinner, Junior will want to be involved. Unfortunately, while cultivating an interest in food - especially homemade food, as opposed to fast food - is a wonderful thing for a child, they can occasionally get in the way of the chef.

An easy solution is to assign your child age-appropriate tasks that they can do with little to no supervision once they have been shown how to do it in the first place. Real Simple offers a helpful list of such tasks, sorted by age, so your kids can join in the cooking process. Here are a few of their suggestions:

5 and over

• Retrieve ingredients from the pantry or refrigerator.
• Wash vegetables and fruits.
• Stir together dry ingredients.
• Smash crackers into crumbs.
• Set the table.

It's hard to say precisely why grilling and golf seem to be the two most popular themes for Father's Day, but we're not complaining because this BBQ set is fantastic. The 5-piece set was designed with golf in mind, for someone who loves the sport but also likes to cook. All the handles are soft and insulated, modeled after the handles on real clubs, and top cylindrical, stainless steel shafts that end in the grilling tools. There is a spatula shaped like a club, grilling fork and tongs that have a remarkably golf ball-like look to them. In addition, the set includes two plastic golf ball salt and pepper shakers.

With Father's Day only one week away, I'm going to aim to pick out cookbooks that would make good gifts for Dads - by which I mean that they will often have words such as "manly", "man" or "dad" in them. Case in point, today's cookbook is Patio Daddy-O: '50's recipes with a Modern Twist. "Daddy-o," if you're not familiar with the term, was a word that originated in about 1950 that hip guys (i.e. not "squares") used to refer to each other. The recipes in the book have adorable names that evoke truly retro cookbooks, but are updated in their ingredient lists and methodology to make dishes much more appealing than Perfection Salad. For example, how do "Slab o' Fun Barbecued Meat Loaf", "Uncle Bob's Peanut Butter Sandwiches with Texas Sweets" and "Rock 'n' Rollin BBQ Baby Back Ribs" sound? Nostalgic? Fun? Delicious? They are all the recipes that you wish your family made but never actually did. Pour a martini or an "Atomic Cocktail," fire up the Weber grill and enjoy.

I also want to point out that Amazon has a used price listed for the book of 1¢. It's hard to go wrong at that price, even if you still have to pay for shipping.

It is a myth that only women want chocolate - guys like it just as much. Dean & Deluca must have someone working for them who knows this and came up with a cute way to package chocolate up as a suitable Father's Day gift. While most dads are getting ties or yet another set of socket wrenches, you can get your dad some tools that he'll really enjoy: chocolate tools. The "set" includes three wrenches, needle-nose pliers and a couple of nuts and bolts. All are made out of 56% cocoa chocolate, which should be pleasing to the taste buds of both milk and dark chocolate lovers. The tools are also dusted in cocoa powder, which D&D says gives them a "rusty" look, though most chocolate fans would probably just say it makes them look even more delicious.

Breakfast and brunch are the two most popular meals on Mother's Day. It's fun and relaxing to have a leisurely morning meal and easier to schedule than a Sunday dinner out, since school and work the next day can create timing pressures. For some reason, people go out more than they eat in on Mother's Day. Maybe mom doesn't want to get stuck with the dishes, or perhaps no one else in the family can cook? I know that when Mother's Day rolled around, I always wanted to make my mom breakfast in bed. It seemed so luxurious, not to mention that breakfast foods can be easier for a kid to cobble together than other meals.

Enter the Flashlight Grill Tongs from Red Envelope. The tongs are stainless steel and have a battery powered LED flashlight built into them. With the press of a button, you can easily monitor your foods on the darkest night as they cook up on the grill.