There's a point every single day when we hurry to get our household chores done. We have better things to do than folding laundry, picking up toys, cleaning up messes and scrubbing the dishes. We often times hurry our kids to the living room to eat a snack or to watch their favorite tv show so we can do these things quickly and in peace. What we often forget though is that our kids are smart and capable. They watch our very move, learn quickly, and most times want to help.
One night my husband was doing the dishes and I happened to notice our daughter wasn't playing in the living room like she normally would be. As I walked back toward the kitchen in search of her I hear Daddy giving her instructions on where to put the silverware. Sure enough, Emma was helping daddy put away the dishes. Carefully taking out the silverware one by one to place them up in the drawer which was far above where she could see. She was also great at grabbing the dinner plates and handing them to daddy to put away in the overhead cabinets. She was being the best little helper and I knew I couldn't pass this moment up without getting a few photos, so I grabbed my camera and headed back to the kitchen. When all the dishes were put away she then decided the dishwasher door doubled as a jungle gym and climbed on top. Sitting there looking cute all I could think of was when she gets older she will look back at these photos and laugh. One day she'll show her own kids these photos and show them how silly she was. Maybe she'll even take photos like this with her own kids.
After the dishes were done and she closed the dishwasher up I was glad I captured these few minutes. Even though this was a simple, every-day task, it was made special by involving Emma and helping her learn something new. I was able to capture these moments to look back on for myself and also for the generations to come to remember us by. It might have been a simple thing, but to me she made it special.
Do your kids like to help out with chores? If so, which ones? I challenge you to do something new with them this week and to make something ordinary a little more special.
