I don't know about you but Saturday is the day I do my general cleaning. I spend most of the day cleaning in the morning and in the afternoon go to the market. Cleaning is every Saturday but market isn't guaranteed. Today being a Saturday was no exception. In the midst of my cleaning my 3 year old daughter comes and requests me to allow her to mop the house. I look at her and sternly say no then continue mopping. She doesn't leave and stands there staring at me with merciful eyes. I don't know if it's her eyes or innocence but I begin questioning why I said no to her mopping. A quick thought comes through that she's too young. As I am debating in my mind something hits me so hard that makes me resolve to allow her to mop. It's this Eureka moment I need to share with you.
Time and time again I have heard parents complain; their children just sit and do nothing. The children aren't helpful at all. They just sit and watch TV or play video games. Parents can complain all they want but 90% of them are to blame for their children's behaviour. At the very young age children want to be involved in this and that , but what do most parents do? Most parents will send the child away to watch TV or even tell them it's ok I can do it or when you are older you will do it. This is what I feel is a misguided way of bringing up a child.
My thoughts are allow the child to do the chores when they are young and willing. They will grow up without any prejudice as to who is supposed to do the chores. They will grow up enjoying to do them because they did it them when young. It will not be strange for them to interact with a mop since it's a tool they very well know. I am told experience is the best teacher. In fact most jobs will prefer to hire experienced people over inexperienced people. I pose this question to us all as parents, if we don't allow our children to have experience why should we complain when we get substandard work in their older ages?
It's time we involve our children in cooking, cleaning , farming , making the bed ,... If Covid-19 wasn't a threat I would even propose going with them to the market and teaching them how to pick the best groceries. The Swahili saying "mtoto umleavyo ndivyo akuavyo" ( The way you bring up a child is the way that child grows) never seemed real than it did to me today. Train your child right and you shall have an experienced adult. What they do with the training depends on them fully. Just don't postpone training a child to a certain age. The right age is when they show interest and are curious to do it.
The excitement my daughter had after I allowed her to mop the floor was out of this world. She smiled from cheek to cheek. As her mother I couldn't help but feel proud and of course capture a video. I plan to use the video for future reference 😁😊.. I leave you to guess where the reference will be needed. 😎
Below is a photo of her mopping👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽🥰🥰🥰
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