Practical Parenting 101

This afternoon DD2 asked me if she could help make dinner. This is not an unusual request, most of the time she (or one of her sibs) asks if they can help with the cooking. Most of the time I nicely tell them they can go play or read instead, because frankly I lack the patience for my apprentices. By the time I get to the end of the day I just want to cook and serve in record time so I can get on with the business of falling into a heap. They are adorable and helpful, but slow and tend to make more mess than I otherwise would. The point I'm making is, DH and I feel very strongly about children learning to be helpful members of their community - from the smallest (their family) to the largest (their school, religious group, sports team, etc.) Although we know we get this message across to them, sometimes it's really nice to have that message affirmed.

So, tonight I let her help, and while she was cooking she was telling me about her day. They are currently learning about the water cycle in school, and today's discussion was about how they use water in their daily lives (in ways other than the obvious, e.g. showering.) Apparently DD2's answer was that she uses water every time she does her chores - eg making her lunch (washes the utensils), putting a load of washing on (clothes washer), walking the dog (and filling his water bowl afterwards) and so on.

The rest of the conversation went like this:

DD2: So anyway Mum, I said my list of activities which use water, and everyone except maybe 2 people looked at me and said, "WHAT THE...?" because hardly anybody in my class has chores of any kind.

Me: (in a very joking manner) - Oh, so you're saying Dad and I are the mean and nasty parents, then! We always wanted to be the mean parents! YAY! I'm totally going to give you like a million more chores now, Cinderella.

DD2: Nice one Mum, but no, what I'm saying is that you are the AWESOME parents, and the other ones are the CRAP parents! They're all busy raising a bunch of spoiled brats who have no idea how to be useful!

Yes, indeed. My work here is done.