There are moments in a mother’s life that she wishes to preserve for all eternity and today we experienced one. This, my friends, is what went down in my house: my child did the dishes. But wait, there’s more. She heard my brief lecture—something about not being able to play right now because there was junk all over the house and I had to put it all away first—and then responded by washing our dishes and scrubbing the sinks. Seriously. She did that without me asking! It was remarkable and precious and thoughtful and so helpful, so so helpful. While she was doing the dishes, I put toys away, dusted, wiped down surfaces, and took out the trash. Awesome.
**Lest you be tempted to look over at your kid who fought you tooth and nail today when you asked him to merely brush his own teeth, take a deep breath. Don’t compare. I realize that sharing good news invites comparisons. For instance, my awesome sister-in-law reports that my niece, age 5, is tying her shoes. My reaction was this: Am I supposed to teach my child to tie her shoes? Whoops! Today dishes, tomorrow shoes, I suppose. ;)
8 Comments
Rebecca Jan 8, 2012 9:15 PM
So the other day my SIL Kristin noted that my niece learned how to tie her shoes. As proud of Madeleine as I am, I’ll admit my first thought was, “Uh oh, I’ve forgotten to teach my kid how to tie her shoes!”
I write this post to mark a fun moment; *not* to invite you to compare your children to mine or your parenting to mine. And really, we all know this washing-dishes-gig will never happen again. Which is why I have to blog about it. ;)
Jeannette Jan 8, 2012 9:29 PM
Awesome! I revel in your post for what it is. :)
I caught myself looking at my 6.5 yo thinking, I wonder at what it will start being dorky to wear velcro shoes…and I’ll have to do the dreaded task of teaching to tie shoes. :-P I just don’t do well things like potty-training, shoe-tying, and phonics. :-P
Way to go Liv!!! (and she clearly doesn’t need to tie her shoes, bc she isn’t wearing any!)
I love hte look of concentration. :-)
Jen Jan 8, 2012 9:32 PM
Ha!
This is definitely a special moment to record! A daughter of mine recently made bread for me, and the second time she made it she told me, “Don’t think I’m going to do this all the time.” :)
Lindsey Jan 8, 2012 9:33 PM
I used to go on dusting/organizing streaks as a kid, and would spend hours carefully dusting all the bookshelves as a kid, wiping off every surface and knickknack (even the books). I was a bit too overzealous one time though, as we had dinner guests and everyone sat down only to create a simultaneous wave of loud fart sounds around the room and people nearly sliding off their chairs. I had used liberal amounts of Endust to polish every part of the dining room chairs to a HIGH shine. I didn’t get the Endust back for probably a year.
Rebecca Jan 8, 2012 9:36 PM
I had internet connection issues while posting this, thus the disclaimer was written twice—and is posted twice. I think I’ll leave both just to make an emphatic point.
I’m laughing at everyone’s comments, both here and on Facebook. I am among a good crowd of women, that’s for sure.
Megan Jan 8, 2012 9:54 PM
I came up with the brilliant plan to make learning to tie shoes a function of Papa. My dad is pretty patient and when given the task with each girl, sat there with her for as long as it took. He taught all of my kids to tie their shoes.
I don’t even remember how old they each were when it happened. *grin*
Jan Wismer Jan 9, 2012 6:36 AM
Way to go, Livia! You get it because it came from your heart.
Claudia Jan 10, 2012 8:37 PM
Way to go, Livliv..so proud of the sweet heart that cleaned for her mama and the effort it took to do the dishes. xo Nana