Teaching and training kids can be exhausting. I’ve had a few years of practice and yet I’m always shocked just how hard and frustrating it can be at times. And then I get this glimmer of hope when I see my older kids working independently and I’m reminded the value of training them young.
All of my kids wash their own clothes with the exception of Briggs – he shares a room with Cannon so Cannon is usually running a load with their combined laundry basket. Our older kids have not so gently informed us Briggs doesn’t know how to do a fraction of the things they knew how to do at his age – they claim it’s because he’s the youngest…I claim he’s too busy going to all their sporting events. 🙂
But there’s some truth to our kids’ observation. Managing a busy household has only required more time and energy the older the kids have grown and as such our training has been a little slow lately. I am rededicating myself to teaching the youngers and I decided to start with Briggs’ laundry. It’s a stepped approach and I asked him to bring his basket down and put it in the washing machine. I walked in a while later and found this mound of clothes overflowing from the washing machine.
Lesson #1: Learning the capacity of the washing machine and how full it can be!
Have I mentioned that performing a task is far easier than training a child to perform the task?!
