Spend time with your kids – Take out the paper and the trash
My daughter volunteered herself for another easy way to spend time with your kids.
Tonight is garbage night. We pulled into the driveway after eating out for dinner. It was already dark and her brother threw up at dinner so we expected to put them straight into bed.
She saw the neighbors’ garbage cans and wanted to help me take out the trash. We had five lawn bags that we carried to the curb. When we were done, she counted them and then sprinted to the garage for the fun part.
We have one giant garbage can and one giant recycle can. They both have wheels and she really likes to push them to the street. They are too big for her to control, so I help a little. She puts both hands on the handle and goes just about as fast as I can manage.
She was dancing and bubbly the entire time. In five minutes, I was able to have fun with my daughter doing a chore I had to do anyway.
Technorati Tags: career, chores, kids, parenting, working parent
That’s a great observation, I remember doing the same thing with my dad when I was little. I think people don’t realize that to kids, even the most trivial tasks can be a big deal.
A lot of times the trivial things are the best because they normally happen pretty quickly. The average attention span of my nearly 4 year olds is abotu 35 seconds. Sometimes the big exciting things can get boring before they are over.
Is the title the beginning of a song that continues, “Or you won’t get no spending cash?” Or maybe I’m just making up memories.
For our three year old, it’s a thrill for him to get to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer (front-loading washer makes it convenient!). He gets so excited to help!