I was raised at my mom's side in the kitchen. She is English/German; her mom did not teach her how to cook. Her mother-in-law, however, was a different story. When mom and dad married, my Italian grandmother (dad's mom) took that young bride under her wing and into her kitchen and taught her how to cook Italian!! It wasn't long before my sister and I came along and mom made sure we knew our way around the kitchen. My mom didn't have many recipes written down; just the various recipes for cheesecakes. Those I still have on splattered index cards!
I married and have two daughters.....you can rest assured they were raised by my side in the kitchen and both (at 24 and 30) are pretty amazing cooks already!