I shared this discovery with a friend the other day. I’m
sure if it’s much of a discovery to those who spend an ample amount of time with
children, but it has eased my stress-level as a parent. The discovery is this:
let them help.
I don’t mean chores per se, though they have their place.
What I mean is intentionally involving really young children in the regular
work of being a family. Dinnertime with three children is stressful when you
value fresh, real food. There is the washing and chopping and measuring. My
older boys help fairly often in the kitchen, but during the week they are
usually doing homework or having some much needed decompression time. I want
them to spend an hour in Lego land dinner because play does all of us a world
of good.
The stickler in the daily routine is usually Miriam. She has
toys but seems to forget that. She is so curious and into everything! Nathan or
I would lose our patience trying to keep her occupied while we got things
together. Then it dawned on me: let her help. Let her help cook dinner.
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| Miriam helping to make sweet potato rolls |
This parent/three-year-old cooking team is not all peaches
and cream, of course. Slow food takes even slower. Peeling six carrots
tonight seemed to take an eternity. Oh, but how she loved trying and when on of
those little carrot peels falls on the floor, it’s a little joke and we laugh. Then
there are the knives. When I wasn’t looking for a brief second, she was trying
to cut an onion with the knife blade the wrong direction. Thankfully she still
has all her fingers.
The joy of it all comes from spending quality time. She is
pouring and dumping, stirring and measuring (spilling and spilling and Did I
mention spilling?) But I find that even with the rags I need to clean up the
mess, it is worth it. Well, at least on a good day when I have the energy for
stir-fry. Other times, we settle for PB and J.
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