Over at Oh My Stinkin’ Heck, there was a great post about how to honor our chidren by teaching them to work around the house while they’re still young. It reminded me that even though sometimes it’s faster to do it myself, it doesn’t teach them anything if Mom always does every bit of housework. After all, they live here too.

They’re pretty helpful though, for a 4.5-year-old and a 16-month-old. After reading through all the comments over there, I realized that they do contribute to a lot around here, and not just the mess!

Hayley loves to help with cooking and baking, even if it’s just stirring and pouring things. She helped me bake the cake yesterday and she even used the mixer. She also loves to Swiffer and she’s fond of attacking the sink with a scrubbing brush, wiping the counters down, and occasionally drying any unbreakable dishes. She also loves to fold laundry. She usually does things that are square or rectangular like facecloths and baby blankets, or easy things like underwear. The other night, though, I discovered that she had seen her grandfather folding t-shirts so she helped me fold George’s shirts. She did a pretty good job.

Considering how much I hate folding laundry, I may just let her have fun by folding all of it from now on.

As for Breanna, she may be small, she may be young, but she is so much more helpful than you might expect. First of all, she seems to have a bit of mild OCD going on because she’s been known to bring me bits of fluff and paper, or to pick stickers off surfaces and bring them all to me, with a hint of disgust on her face so that I can dump them in the garbage. I’ve actually even seen her pick lint off the cat.

After her bath, once I’ve dried her and dressed her in pajamas, she almost always trots off to the bathroom to pick up her (folded up) dirty diaper, then she takes it to the bedroom and puts it in the garbage for me. She’s just as eager to pick up things like toys from the living room floor as long as I pick up one and show her where it goes – shelf, toybox, or basket. She also loves being handed a clean, wet rag and she’ll wander off randomly wiping at floors and walls.

Her latest interest is helping me with transferring the laundry. I stand at the washer and toss in anything large or heavy, but I hand anything small to Breanna. Sometimes she pauses long enough to chew on a sock or a t-shirt, but mostly she puts everything into the dryer. She’s been known to be mighty ticked off when it’s all done, and stands there shrieking with indignation as I close the door, empty the lint trap, and turn the dryer on.

I figure with a couple more years I’ll be able to have two fully-trained housekeepers and I can finally put my feet up, eat bon-bons, and watch soaps all day, just like a stay at home mom is supposed to.