All I can say is... I sure hope Ryan likes sweeping, doing the dishes, helping with laundry and putting away his toys later in life as much as he does right now!!
He truly is such a good helper to me. We obviously haven't gotten to the stage of having regular "chores," but I try to include him in everything that I do so that he can learn from me. We make it fun!
A few of the things that he does (at 15 months, tomorrow):
-dusts (I give him a rag and he wipes things, like the book shelf, the books, the cats, his tractor, mama... lol, etc)
-hands me a piece of clean laundry for me to fold
-pushes the full laundry basket of folded towels down the hall for me to put away
-"helps" with the dishes
-"sweeps" the floor
-"helps" with baking (I let him dump in dry ingredients)
-puts his toys and books away
I'm pretty sure he likes to think he is helping by bringing me the toilet brush, but I won't count that one!
One thing about being a mama is using all the little opportunities you have been blessed with by God to teach, instruct, train, love and encourage your little one. It's super important to me to take advantage of these times and help cultivate a good work ethic in my son, as well as respect for others and good stewardship for our things. Sometimes it's hard to want to let Ryan "help" with the dishes or the laundry, because it would be so much easier and faster if I could just do it on my own. Oh, how my attitude should change and look for these golden moments with anticipation! And with a smile on my face, gladly say, "Yes, you may help mama!" and afterwards (until he can tell time, hehe), "What used to take me 30 whole minutes now only takes me 45! Thank you, love." Being a mama is letting your little one learn from you, mimic you, follow you, soak it all in... but yet realizing that it won't be "perfect" or by your standards, and it will likely take twice as long. But what a joy to have such a sponge of a shadow!
[he put his books away]
[the towels Ryan put in the drawer; great example of how things will not look how you would prefer them, but to take the opportunity to teach!]
3 comments:
This is so sweet Laura!
You are SO right, Laura. I try to remember these are teachable and precious moments, even when E helps me empty the dishwasher ... one plate at a time. Haha!
One of Maggie's chores is putting her own clothes away and they definitely do not look like they would if I put them away! But as she doesn't care about wrinkled clothes (and neither do her friends), it's one thing I'm not going to worry about! And Jessie loves to sweep so much, I think she might get her own broom for her birthday so we don't have to worry about her accidentially gouging the wall!
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