My mom had us all learning to cook as soon as we could pull a chair up to the stove and stir the spaghetti sauce - we are actually german and dutch, not italian, lol. She died when I was 10 and by the age of 12 I was making complete meals and desserts and all that stuff. I had 2 older sisters and we did a rotation - with me doing more than my share. My oldest sister isn't much of a cook ... and I have always loved to cook.
My sister has a photo of her little boy standing on a chair at the stove stirring the pot and all he is wearing is his diaper and a big smile. She has another photo of him vacuuming in the same attire - I wonder if that kid ever wore clothes, lol. Of course, once he grew older he stopped helping with the housekeeping - but at least she knows he can cook and won't starve if he ever moves out on his own (he is now 27 years old and still living with them).