But you’re right. For instance - if I let him pull a stool up in the kitchen to throw away the ends of veggies while I cut them up, he lets me cook instead of hanging on my legs and whining. And he doesn’t give us any trouble about thoroughly brushing his teeth, because he knows he gets to do it himself when we’re finished.

P has found this to be true with outside work, too - E hands him the tools he needs and then mocks whatever he’s doing with his own little toy set of tools.

oh!!! We have a bunny now, but since it’s technically “his bunny,” he helps clean out his cage (holding the trash can is helping, right?? ) and he carries the food to him each day after I cut it up. And in a strange way, I think it makes him like the bunny even more than our other pets.

So very cool post - i can’t wait to see what you have to say about girls so I can start storing up that info for (hopefully) future use

I needed to read this. It’s not that I didn’t know it - but this past year we’ve been so busy that a lot of things have gone to the wayside and boy…am I eating the bread of idleness in my boys lately! They are good boys…just not enough for them to do. I think I’m going to teach them how to dig up the weeds in the backyard and then give them the task of completing it. The backyard is almost 100% weeds - crab grass I think - and it has to be dug up, can’t kill it with any kind of chemical - so this will be a good chore for them!

I’ve also noticed that my hyper kid does much better all around when he’s worn down, physically. He just has SO MUCH energy. I know he would do well on a farm b/c there’d be REAL work for him to do with a real, concrete sense of accomplishment vs. cleaning his room every day… LOL!!
Sarah

What an awesome article! I really needed to hear that now.

Thanks,
Mike