Benefits of Raising Self-Sufficient Kids

This week I got to find out exactly how well I've been raising the kids to do things for themselves. Yes, I devised a little test for them, called breaking my hand, to force them to show me their self-sufficiency skills. Seriously, I did break my hand (just a little break in one finger bone) in karate class this week, so I'm all splinted up for a few weeks. By the next morning, they were blessing me with their abilities to not only fend for themselves, but take care of me as well. From Asa cooking me eggs for breakfast and taking care of the chickens to Mackenzie walking both dogs and helping me tie my shoes, the roles were definitely a reverse from a few years ago when I did all of these things for them.

It's just one more reminder that when we give our kids the ability to learn these skills like cooking (even with a hot skillet) in a safe environment, that by the time they're a decade old they can take on almost any task in the house. I know that a few generations ago, these things would be taken for granted. There was so much work to be done (gardening, tending the cows, churning the butter, gathering the eggs, hand-washing the laundry) that everyone had to pitch in. But these days our kids are often so busy with activities that sometimes it's just easier to do the household work ourselves instead of taking the (sometimes much messier and more lengthy) route of helping them learn to do it. The first time a kid folds laundry or cooks an egg, it's likely to involve so much more time and energy from you to help them than it would be to just do it yourself, but in the long run we do them (and ourselves) a big favor by having the time and the patience to help them learn these skills.

Broken Kids

Ooooh, urgggh. Summertime plans go awry. Mackenzie broke his arm! Not doing anything dangerous of course, like jumping on our trampoline, but jumping around the living room like a nut after hearing that hubby got him a cell phone. Never mind the fact that we emphasized this is just a phone for when he is on his own - he has started walking to the store or friends' houses by himself - I think it must be some kind of rite of passage or something to get a phone because he was obviously very excited by this concept! That one took me by surprise. But here's a photo of him trying to set up his voicemail. He looks so, well, older all of a sudden!

Anyways, the arm is definitely broken, and supposedly we hear from the orthopedist today how badly. Keep your fingers crossed!

In related news, in karate class last week, I was practicing with my friend's daughter. We were doing throws and as I threw her, the guy next to me threw his partner and his knee collided with her nose which is now broken! It seems like it's a broken kind of week. And the start of summer is not really when you want to go breaking things, when everyone else is going to the pool and biking around and stuff. Bummer!