I learned a valuable parenting lesson yesterday. For the last few weeks, Boo has been very interested in the dishwasher, pulling the clean or dirty dishes and silverware out and putting them back in or scattering them over the floor. I didn't want clean silverware on my dirty floor, or dirty silverware on my clean floor, so I have been shooing her away or trying to do dishwasher things when she is safely strapped in her high chair. Yesterday I was doing too many things at once, including unloading the dishwasher while Boo was running around playing. After a few minutes, I tuned into what she was doing. She was taking the clean silverware out, opening the silverware drawer, dropping it in, closing the drawer and going back for more. I was floored. How did she learn to do that? And why had I kept her from doing it for the last few weeks?! So my lesson - focus that toddler energy instead of shooing it away in the name of efficiency. And lesson #2: she watches and learns a lot more than I think she does.
Isn't it amazing what kids pick up on! Isaac is the same way with our dishwasher - I haven't seen him put any dishes away yet, but maybe I should give it a chance!
ReplyDeleteWow, isn't that handy! Hannah and Noah are get at sneaking things away. The other day, several minutes after closing the dishwasher, Noah was running around waving a whisk covered with cream sauce.
ReplyDeleteThe other dishwasher problem we have is that they throw a fit when we close the door. We solved that problem by turning it into a game and letting them close the door!