"Good grief!  What am I doing?  Why am I cleaning up this mess?"  The thought beams loudly through my mind as I scrub up the mess from the boys art lesson.  Why?  I prepared the lesson and prepped all of the materials beforehand and now I am

Many times...ok...most times?... we as parents are far too impatient to let our children take over a task, a responsibility.  Why?  Because it is easier and faster to just do it ourselves.  Therefore, our children never learn to accomplish the task OR enjoy the satisfaction of helping, of contributing to the family, of a job well-done.  As parents, we must take a deep breath, suck up that rush-get-it-done-now mentality and allow (thereby teach) our children to sweep the floor, do the laundry, make their own peanut butter and jelly sandwich and yes, clean up the messy paint from an art lesson at the kitchen table. 

Below is an excerpt from the article which made me slow down and realize that lately I am having too much of the rush-get-it-done-now mentality.  It reminded me that I am missing some special moments to teach and to cherish:

"... When the child reaches the age where he or she wants to "help" the parents, too many times the parents do not have the "time" for them to help. In their anxiety to finish the task at hand, they forget their most important task is to work themselves out of a job. In order to save time and "do it right," they discourage the child from helping, and do the job themselves. That's unfortunate, because they frequently miss out on a great educational/developmental opportunity, and an opportunity to grow closer to the child. "  --from ArcaMax Publishing Parents Newsletter

Please take a moment to read the complete article (the link is posted below in External Links).  It made me stop and remember that even a child with cerebral palsy has to learn "to do".