Friday, December 08, 2006
Helpful
At one of the wonderful parenting seminars I attended at the kids' school, our instructor explained that as a normal part of their development, children cycle through periods of equilibrium and disequilibrium at approximately six month intervals. When one of my kids has been testy for days on end, I'm reassured that biologically speaking, this too shall pass. Once you've added more than one chick to the nest, though, family dynamics get a lot more complicated, in part because your children's developmental trajectories oscillate like overlapping sine waves. In our house, Max is riding the crest of cooperation that accompanies age five just as Boo is descending into the valley of darkness that is age three and a half. I try to comcentrate on Max's spirit of helpfulness.
I recently found myself in the W.C. without a shred T.P. I decided to enlist Max in my dilemma.
"Hey, Max, could you go into your bathroom and bring me a roll of toilet paper?"
"Sure, mom."
He appeared moments later holding a pristine roll of paper towels. I imagined his thought process as he searched the cabinet beneath his sink.
White? Check.
Paper? Check.
On a roll? Check.
Never mind the 11" by 11" quilted squares. And then he dispensed a dollop of five-year old wisdom:
"Now don't use too much!"
I recently found myself in the W.C. without a shred T.P. I decided to enlist Max in my dilemma.
"Hey, Max, could you go into your bathroom and bring me a roll of toilet paper?"
"Sure, mom."
He appeared moments later holding a pristine roll of paper towels. I imagined his thought process as he searched the cabinet beneath his sink.
White? Check.
Paper? Check.
On a roll? Check.
Never mind the 11" by 11" quilted squares. And then he dispensed a dollop of five-year old wisdom:
"Now don't use too much!"
1 Comments:
Now don't tell me you've never used paper towels yourself when the proper stuff wasn't available. :-)
Post a Comment
<< Home