"Sorry, I'm Busy"

So this morning I was folding laundry, trying to get caught up on 2 weeks worth of clothes. My husband has been doing a good job of getting the clothes washed, but unfortunately, they have just been dumped in a pile on my couch, waiting to be folded.

Anyway, Cinderella was playing the computer, something she had been doing for the last hour or so, and I told her it was time to be done, and that I needed her to help me. She told me she was playing Kwala, and that she couldn't help me. She didn't want to do any work, just play. I told her that since I wasn't the only person in this house that wears clothes, and gets them dirty, she could help me.

She said, "sorry, I'm busy." So I went and turned off her game, and put the computer on standby. She then proceeded to scream at me, and tell me that she was never going to help me again. She then stomped across the room, picked up a folded towel of the floor, and carried it upstairs to the closet where it goes, screaming and stomping all the way. She then came back down, told me once again that she was never going to help me again, and got another towel. She shook it out so it was no longer folded. I scolded her for unfolding the towel I had folded. She then told me she was putting it away. She then took a snack break, with my permission, and then came and asked me if she could go out side and play with Guy. I asked her if she could help me a little more first, and she politely said she would, and helped me put away a good amount of the rest of the clothes. It is like dealing with a Jekyll and Hyde.

I could do with out the attitude, but hey at least she was helping. Right?

When We're Helping We're Happy

The is a children's song, that is taught in our church that goes, "When we're helping we're happy, and we sing as we go. For we love to help Mother for we all love her so." It has a series of tra la la's, and then repeats the verse only inserting Father instead of Mother.

Anyway, Cinderella has taken to singing this song lately. She will see her father or I doing a task, such as the dishes, or cooking dinner decide she is going to help, get her stool out and come sing the song.

I have to admit, that even though some times are not he most convenient to have a 3 year old help with, it is kind of hard to turn her down when she is singing a song such as that.
I am learning, that there is value to allowing her to help instead of shooing her away and doing it myself.

For example, yesterday at the grocery store. When we go grocery shopping we use two carts. Daddy takes one, with one child and I take another with the other child. Yesterday, Cinderella insisted on being my shopping buddy, and that she wanted to walk. This is an OK step, because when JR. arrives, we will need the space in the cart for him/her.

Well because she was walking, she felt like it was her responsibility to help pick out all of the items that we purchased. We started with bell peppers. Last week she "helped" her daddy pick one out, and insisted on one that had a large bad spot. He couldn't think of anyway to convince her to get another one, so we took it home, and used it as quickly as we could. Anyway, I was a little hesitant to let her pick it out this time, until I had the thought. "Teach her the way to tell if a pepper is good." So I let her pick a pepper, then we looked it over, and I pointed out the bad spots. I told her, "it is OK if the pepper is green, yellow, red, or orange. But we don't really want to see any other colors. What color is this?" She responded with brown. So I told her we should probably look for another one. We continued this process until we found a pepper that was in pretty good shape.

Anyway, she and I continued through the store, with me allowing her to pick up items off of low shelves. I then taught her about dented cans. And we reselected when we needed to. It took me a lot longer to get our groceries, but Cinderella felt like she helped, and it was a learning process for both her and me. So I would say it is worth it.