Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Small Steps in the Right Direction

As a parent, it is almost always easier to let things go or do them yourself than to train your child to do them. But, it's also usually a better idea to train your child since your main purpose as a parent is to raise your child to be a successful adult. Recently Joshua has gained some skills that have allowed us to see a few small fruits of our labor of teaching him responsibility and that has been very gratifying. One of the things he has learned to do is fold towels and wash cloths. Here he is folding the rags. Joshua is at an age where he loves to help. He wants to help me cook every single time I do anything. He wants to help me unload the dishwasher. He wants to help vacuum and mop. He wants to help clean the bathroom. Basically anything I do, he wants to be a part of it. It is very tempting to tell him no and I do sometimes tell him that.  I can do anything at least three times as fast without his help and he drops things and makes a huge mess over half the time. But when I have the time I try to let him be a part of things because it's quality time for us and it makes both of us better people. I imagine it will be quite a few years before he really can be self-sufficient and helpful in these matters, but in the meantime it's exciting to see his baby steps in learning new things and being able to do things in a correct way.

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