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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Little Helper


026, originally uploaded by Kristianna.

Carter is at that age where 'helping' is important... very, very important.

School aged kids love to feel helpful, too, and even toddlers love to clap for themselves when they have 'helped' by *not* taking every book off a shelf or *not* unfolded all the laundry.

But preschoolers--and for simplicity I call Carter that, though he doesn't begin preschool until fall... they just live to help. I clearly recall a time when Bunny was 3 and she made a mess willfully. I have blocked out what the mess was, but I recall she really wanted to help clean up. At that time cleaning was F-U-N, so I 'punished' her by not allowing her to help. "B-b-but... I'm a good helper!" she sobbed the whole time.

Carter's favorite helping opportunities are watering plants (and himself) and using the dustbuster. Whenever I vacuum I have to allow him to have the 'bustbuster' or I can hear him over the noise, screaming that he needs to help, too!

Sadly, I am pretty sure by the age of 10 or so this will wear off.

1 comment:

Elle said...

Nah, more like 12 or 13 (why I wouldn't teach middle school for all the money in the world). They still love to be my helpers in 5th grade, which I love, because it makes life much easier. When the big kids help, it is actually helpful! So take heart, you have years to go. :)

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