That is the question.
And I think it’s a pretty darn good one too! And I am not talking about spilled milk here either!
I guess we expect a lot from the three kids. You know, we expect them to bathe, pick up after themselves, do the best of their ability at work (school) and play (sports and instruments), leave places better than when they arrived. We expect kind words to come out of their mouths…the list really could go on. But you get the point. We don’t expect super human strengths and abilities from them, but I guess we do expect a lot from them compared to some parents.
So my question on spoiling comes next.
My “life” would be so much simplier if I could just “do it!!” I am so dang tired of reminding them yet AGAIN to hang up their coat and not just dump it on the floor as they come in the door. I am tired of having them put their clothes away “correctly” the 2nd time. I am tired of not being able to clean the kitchen before starting to make dinner because they have yet to empty the dishwasher. Though it is more work for me, it would be much simplier to just “do it.”
But does that “spoil” them? It obviously doesn’t make them remember to do it correctly the next time, or I would have nothing to write about today! Most days I have to wait for them to get around to doing it, but honestly, I would rather take the additional 2 seconds out my time and just do it. Emptying the dishwasher takes me 5 minutes. Takes Buddy at least 30 minutes, and has on occasion taken him 1.5 hours! (Yes, you read that correctly.)
How can we teach them to take of these responisibilities without getting frusterated and wanting to do them ourselves?? Is it going to spoil them if I just picked up their coat and hung it up? If I threw away the wrappers on the counter without even asking them to take care of it, would they never learn to put things in the garbage?
I don’t want to give up on them either. I am just frusterated with the process.